By Jeremy Brown

This year's Twins Days Festival marked the event’s 50th anniversary and with it came some new additions to the festivities: an exhibit showcasing memorabilia, periodicals and a detailed history of the festival; a new gameshow called Twin-Sync that tested twins' knowledge of each other; and The Royal Reunion, which included many of the royal court selections from years gone by. 

The Twins Days Festival started in 1976 at Twinsburg’s U.S. bicentennial celebration, where committee members decided to set aside a day for twins in honor of Aaron and Moses Wilcox, identical twin brothers who were instrumental in the early development of Twinsburg, back when it was called Millsville. Twinsburg was named in honor of the Wilcox twins in 1832. The festival is the largest gathering of twins in the world.

The 2025 festival theme was Cheers To 50 Years. It took place Aug. 1-3, and was attended by over 2,560 multiples/twins, although the official total won’t be available until the end of September. 

Festivities kicked off at 9 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 1 with a golf outing at Gleneagles Golf Club, a Hot Dog Roast & Raffle (sponsored by Sheetz) at Twinsburg High School at 2 p.m., a hot dog dinner (sponsored by Sheetz) at 5:30 p.m. and a cornhole tournament from 3 p.m.-9 p.m.

The main event of the weekend, the famous Double Take Parade, started at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 2, at Twinsburg’s Town Square and ended at Glen Chamberlin Park. As a result of the heightened attendance due to The Royal Reunion, 30 extra units were added to the parade procession, making one of the longest parades in the event’s history.

The festival began selecting royal court members in 1983. Typically, a royal court committee selects five pairs of twins to become that year’s kings, queens, princes, princesses and grand marshalls. However, there were no royal court selections this year, because the committee wanted to reflect upon the long history of the event, as well as to reunite existing court members.

The royal court’s motto is “once royalty, always royalty,” so every court member remains royalty in perpetuity.

In past Twins Days parades, that year’s royalty selections were escorted by the Euclid Beach Rocket Car, but because of the over 100 court members that attended on behalf of the reunion, coordinators employed a large float to accommodate them.

 

Royalty members were encouraged to wear costumes that reflected the themes from their reigning year. Some years did not have formal themes, so court members from those years were encouraged to wear a favorite theme from past years, or wear the official Cheers To 50 Years’ theme color: gold.

Royal Court Committee Chairperson Jeannie DiMatteo started contacting royal count members over a year ago to make sure everyone was invited to the reunion. 

“The stories that had come in throughout the year were just so emotional. We had one set of kings that had not seen the queens that were on their court for 20 years,” DiMatteo said. “We had also spoken to some kings and queens and princesses that had lost their twin over the years, and that, too, is so emotional. Some of them were bittersweet and didn’t know if they should return; they didn’t know how they would be welcomed again, since their twin was no longer with us. I really encouraged them to come, and they were welcomed and embraced, and it was just, for me, such an emotional peace, that I personally gained so much out of it.”

A remembrance ceremony to honor twins who had lost a twin, titled the Twinless Twins Luminary Lighting Ceremony, took place Saturday evening, followed by fireworks. 

Following the parade, Mayor Sam Scaffide gave a heartfelt speech to kick off the day’s festivities, naming the days of the festival as Twins Days in the city. 

“I’d like to say thank you so much for carrying on this wonderful tradition that put Twinsburg on the map each and every year,” Scaffide said. “Congratulations on 50 years. Thank you so much.” 

Parade trophy awards were then given to winners from various categories.

The most unique entry went to Ben and Fred Kinsey and Jill and Jojo Gentry with their Golden Golfers theme, which was created to honor Mike Gentry, who was the father of twins, Jill and Jojo, and was a fan of both golf and Twins Days.

The following awards went to:

Several festivities continued throughout the weekend and included a twins talent show, contests, meet and greets, children activities and much more.

The 50 Festivals Exhibit was open for viewing on Saturday and Sunday at the community center. The centerpiece of the exhibit was a display honoring John and William Reiff, twins from Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, who often attended Twins Days and would ride their tandem bike at the festival and around Twinsburg. The Reiff brothers were featured in a Pert 2-in-1 shampoo commercial and were once the Guinness World Record holders of the world’s most-identical twins. William died in 2000, and John five years later. They bequeathed nearly $5 million of their estate, along with their tandem bicycle and other items, to the Twins Days Festival.

Among the attendees this year were Liz and Julia Nolan, identical twins who were featured in the reality show Big Brother season 17 Twin Twist, played twin waitresses in the TV series Lucifer and have played twins in various music videos. More recently, they did a cameo in season 27, episode 9, of Big Brother. 

The Nolan twins share nearly identical voices, features and mannerisms, and, like many twins, they have a special bond that started at a young age.

“It was the best experience,” Liz said, with Julia helping her finish sentences. “We had our own twin language when we were toddlers and it would freak my mom out. We would sneak into a closet and mutter words to each other and we couldn’t even speak. So we’ve always been really, really close. We finish each other's sentences and sandwiches. And we’re best friends to this day. We can’t live without each other.” 

The Nolan twins live in Miami, Florida, and work together in the CBD industry. 

Sunday began with a 5K Fun Run & Walk at 8:30 a.m. and church service at 9:30 a.m., with various festivities throughout the day, including Twingo Bingo, live entertainment and a volleyball tournament. 

The next Twins Days Festival will take place Aug. 7-9, 2026.