During the pandemic a bored college student, 22-year-old Josh Swain from Tucson, Arizona, said there can only be one Josh. He messaged other Joshes on social media and challenged them to a pool noodle battle. The fun fight over the name Josh drew a crowd from around the country to Air Park in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Sunday. The park was chosen at random and hundreds of spectators – not to mention all of those Joshes and Josh wannabees – showed up to participate in the silliness.

It was all in good fun, kind of like the “sign wars” that erupted this week around Great Bend. Have you seen businesses “joshing” with each other in print?

At the Josh-off, no one was injured, and some battled with games of “rock, paper, scissors” rather than noodles.

Swain declared a 4-year old with a red noodle, Joshua Vinson Jr., the ultimate Josh at the Josh-off, according to the Lincoln Journal Star. The event raised spirits and also raised money for the Children’s Hospital & Medical Center Foundation of Nebraska. Meanwhile, many of those who attended brought food for local food banks.

In the midst of such light-hearted news, we’d hate to be the wet noodle warning of possible COVID-19 spread. In fact, NBC news reports many of the attendees could be seen wearing masks. For good measure, the NBC version of the story notes that “outdoor gatherings, especially when attendees are masked, are largely low-risk and rarely sites of mass COVID-19 infections.”

This week, the CDC and President Biden said the same thing.

That is great news as Great Bend prepares for its own outdoor events, including the upcoming June Jaunt. Should the annual “media challenge” between the Great Bend Tribune and Eagle Radio include a pool-noodle fight, or at least rock, paper, scissors?