Noah Jursa, left, shows his twin brother, Drew Jursa, something he found while exploring the creek in their backyard. This is one of their favorite pasttimes together. In two weeks, the 12-year-olds will represent the Mahoning Valley as the princes of the Twins Day Festival in Twinsburg. (Staff photo / Emily Scott)

AUSTINTOWN — Twins Noah and Drew Jursa in two weeks will represent the Mahoning Valley as the princes on the Twins Day Festival royal court.

The 12-year-olds will be crowned princes in their 13th year attending the festival in Twinsburg the weekend of Aug. 5. Other than when the festival took a year off in 2020, the boys haven’t missed a year since they were 3 months old.

To most people, Drew and Noah look identical. They have won second place in the lookalike competition at the festival a handful of times. Other than beauty marks placed slightly different on their faces, and faces that are somewhat a different shape, the twins can be hard to tell apart until they open their mouths.

Not only do their voices sound different, but their personalities are also different.

“Noah is the outgoing one. He would walk up to any stranger and start a conversation,” Shannan Jursa, the boys’ mom, said. “Drew is more shy; he’s more anxious.”

Although they are born and raised in Austintown, and still live there, the two will be starting seventh grade at James A. Garfield Middle School in Garrettsville, which is near their mom’s job. Until last school year, they had never been in the same class.

This gave them ample opportunities to try to prank their teachers, like in fourth grade, when the boys switched clothes and shoes and went to the other’s class. Because their voices are a giveaway, they said they didn’t talk the whole period.

Once they did finally talk, the teachers figured it out right away.

TWIN-TO-TWIN

But the boys didn’t want to talk about themselves, instead keeping busy on their phones while mom told their tale. Their favorite ways to pass time together are playing video games and exploring the creek in their backyard.

Shannan said the differences in her sons began at birth. They are Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome survivors, which is a pregnancy condition where twins share a network of blood vessels in the womb. As a result, they were born premature.

Noah was born healthy, but Drew had to stay in the hospital for an extra week. Shannan said when Drew was born, his blood was so thick that it could not move in his veins and it had to be diluted with saline.

Drew also developed jaundice. He was placed under ultraviolet light, so Shannan said as soon as the boys were home, they looked different because Drew’s skin was much darker.

All of those physical differences eventually dissipated and they are identical today. Drew and Noah now have their own distinctive styles and rarely dress the same, because they like being individuals. The exception to that is Twins Day, where they want to be as identical as possible.

DRESS-UP

This year, the theme is Welcome 2 the Jungle. In most years, Drew and Noah dress in elaborate costumes and ride in the annual parade on floats made my their parents.

“I don’t have any girls, so this one event each year is when I really get to put all my creativity into one thing,” Shannan said. She typically makes the costumes and recruits her husband, Jeff, to help build the float.

The first year, when they were three months old, the twins did not dress up, but they have each year since. They have boasted costumes such as aliens, Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots, the Flintstones and clowns. This year, they will not get to dress up because they are on the royal court, but will instead get to ride in a convertible.

The family enjoys going to the festival each year because everyone gets to meet people from all over the world — twins from Japan, Spain, Argentina, Brazil and China. Shannan said about 2,000 pairs of twins attend the event annually.

“It’s really feels like one big family,” Shannan said about the event. “Everyone is so kind and welcoming. I think Drew and Noah realize how special they are.”

Drew and Noah said they think they will continue going to the festival for a long time. One of their favorite things to do each year is to meet up with another set of twins, also named Drew and Noah, who they first ran into their very first year attending the festival. This set of twins is from Michigan and they are college graduates. They are the kings of the royal court.

The families have dubbed this the Year of Drew and Noah.