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April 13, 2008 at 7:10 pm
Pat Tuttle
Hi Clowns! Whats Happening?
April 29, 2008 at 6:23 am
Amanda "OSCAR" Clay
Hi! Just checking out the website and thought I’d give this a test.
We’ve trained 7 new clowns in St. Louis, MO on the whiteface and the auguste and we are having a blast! This group is truly and spiritually committed to bringing Christ’s love through laughter to the world. I am so blessed to be able to play such a small part in Ski’s ministry. Thanks again for the opportunity! I’ll send some pictures of the class and maybe they’ll be worth posting!
April 29, 2008 at 6:26 am
Amanda "OSCAR" Clay
Hey, Pat and Ruby and Don! Just a note to let you know that our clown class in St. Louis is going great! We’ve done the white face and the auguste so far. This class is truly a blessing with huge hearts for spreading Christ’s love through laughter. I’ll send some pictures for posting. And thanks again for letting me be a part of spreading the ministry!
May 1, 2008 at 11:44 pm
Pat
Keep up the good work Amanda. It is clowns like you that keep “SKI’S” dream alive.
May 2, 2008 at 2:49 am
Don "Doc" Berkoski
Hello all you clowns out there. We are really moving into the 21st century. First the web site and now the Clown Blog. I look forward to seeing what everyone is up to and think this is going to close the gap between the chapters. We are and have always been one big happy and funny family but now we have the ability to communicate like never before. Please use this Blog and enjoy!
May 2, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Ruby Berkoski
Hi there!
It’s great to see the blog is finally up. I’m anxious to hear from you all and I think it’s great we will be able to interact with each other.
Good going Amanda! It’s so good to hear you are going to add to our numbers. I’m looking forward to seeing your new clowns.
God bless you all and your clowning.
May 6, 2008 at 12:43 am
Mary 'Sunshine' Barrett
Hi Clown Friends!
River City Clowns are soooo busy this time of year as I’m sure all the chapters are! We had 10 events in April (WHEW!) and May is really busy too.
We recently graduated 12 new baby clowns: Noodles, Ms. Pinkie, Flash, Corker, Bebo, Petals, Hoky-Poky, Georgee-Girl, Frut-Lup, Baby Doll, Jolie, and last but not least, the greatest painter on earth, Zero!
What a great group of new clowns we have. We also assigned Mentor’s to each of them to help them get started out on the BIG right foot. We recently scheduled a balloon jam to familiarize them with hot air and squeaks. That was a BLAST! (literally)
Thought for the day: Growing old is mandatory. Growing up? Definitely Optional.
Take care . . . Sunshine
May 12, 2008 at 10:48 am
Jodie
Happy Mother’s Day to all you mother clowns.
Love and Hugs Jodie
May 16, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Sparkles
This is the new chapter from Grant County, “Clowns R Us”.
We want to let you know what the chapter has been doing the last month.
April 18th – (Friday) Washington Elem. School – Balloons & Walk around with Sparkles, Tuli Tulip, Skeeter, & Boone.
April 21st (Monday) York House Assistant Living – Show
1. Tuli Tulip, 2. Sparkles, 3.Skeeter, 4. Daffy-Dil
April 24th (Thurs.) Church Program – Balloons, Games & Magic
1. Tuli Tulip, 2. Graa-Cee
May 17th (Sat.) University Health Care – Carnival for Kids!
Balloons, & Face Painting from 12:00 to 2:00 pm
May 24th (Sat.) Bear Creek Farm – “Kids Day” – Walk around & Ballooning
MORE TO COME !!
May 18, 2008 at 8:38 am
Smiles Unlimited
Sparkles
It is great to see the new chapter is off and running. I want to welcome the “Clowns R Us” Chapter to the family. See all of you in June. Keep up the good work
Doc
May 21, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Jodie
Here is a update on our chapter. Clowns On The Ball Muncie
Last month we tried a first by doing a day time walk around at a nursing home. It worked out great. As you know some residents are morning people and some are night time people. ( Just like us clowns) We are going to try to do one morning and one evening booking a month for the next few months to see how thing go.
This month we are trying another first by doing a gospel show at a assisited living. We got the OK to do this ahead of time. This will be all new skits for us, and we will be repeating them at the Sunday morning service at our conference So every one who attends the service will get a chance to see them.
Hint: We will be singing three song there and at the Sunday service also.
Because He lives
Victory in Jesus
Amizing Grace
Just in case any one wants to practice bewteen now and them.
Peppermint will be our Clown of the year for 2008.
Let me just say this she is a very great clown, and she will be great competition for The Smiles Clown Of The Year. We are all proud to say she belongs to Clown On The Ball.
Love and Hugs Jodie
May 27, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Jodie
We live in a awesome world
Make it a awesme day
Peace to all and May God bless you
September 16, 2008 at 9:33 am
Chris "TNT"
Returned yesterday afternoon from the AWESOME 2008 Smiles Unlimited Conference. It was great to see the clown family. While there I was able to teach a few balloons to others and learn some from others. It was a great time.
I hope that we have aleast 1/10 (500) of the clowns that have been trained by Smiles Unlimited (5000) for the 20th conference in 2009!
September 17, 2008 at 9:09 am
Gabby Giggles
Sassy and I both returned home safely from the clown conference and we both enjoyed are selves especially myself due to working three jobs at the moment!! At the same time I began having car problems after i got home that afternoon, and finally realize that my enginee was fried so mom and i bought a new 2005 ponaic sunfire car!! Happy ending huh!! God Bless you all!!
Gabby Giggles
September 17, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Jeff "ToeKnee" DeMoss
Wow…what a great conference we had for 2008. It is always great to see all my other clown friends for the other Smiles Unlimited Chapters. Conference is always a fun time with all the classes and competitions. I challenge all of our clowns to bring in at least one clown during 2009. More if you can..and our conferences will just get better every year!
October 7, 2008 at 12:43 am
Amanda "OSCAR" Clay
Hey! Can anybody help me with some skits for use in a kid’s bible study? The theme for the 3 weeks surrounding Oscar’s appearance is “God is Good”. I need to fill 20 minutes in front of preK-4th graders (about 75 kids), and then have about 5-15 minutes in front of 20 kids. I hope to have a 2nd clown with me, but if I don’t I can probably get one of the teachers to play the straight part. This is all new to me as I usually do walk arounds and the classic clown show in nursing homes.
I sure appreciate any help you can give me! Thanks!
May God Richly Bless You!
Amanda ‘OSCAR’ Clay
MUMChuckles Chapter
November 14, 2008 at 1:54 am
Amanda "OSCAR" Clay
Bubbles and OSCAR from the MUMChuckles just did their first Kid’s Bible Study clowning event. We took the normal Smiles Unl. skits and worked a few bible truths into them. It was a lot of fun and huge success! And brought in a nice donation as well.
We’ve been invited back for the spring semester. We will be working up the “Armor all of God” skits from the website several of you were so kind to point me toward.
OSCAR and Flora Bell also participated in the American Diabetes Association Step out against Diabetes Walk in early October. It was a blast as well. And OSCAR, Bubbles and Kukie visited a retirement home in North St. Louis County–a new area of the city for us, and hopefully we will reach and teach some new clowns in that area.
We have a Christmas show planned for an area nursing home on 12/13 and hope for a good turnout of clowns. We are starting to set up shows based purely on word of mouth, so that is good.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all, and may you see all the ways that God has richly blessed you!
December 1, 2008 at 2:26 am
Jeff "ToeKnee" DeMoss
Hello to all my Red Nose Life Giving Buddies…
Well as always River City Clowns is busy busy…Here it is the 30th of November. A couple of us did some random nursing home visits on the day after Thanksgiving and had a blast…We are in our parade season and several of us did the Christmas Parade in Owensboro KY. It was cold and a very long parade. This was the first time we did it and next year we will be more prepared. The next day we did the Evansville Holiday Parade. We had about 15 or so clowns for this one and again..a long parade but we always have fun with it. Afterwards of course..we have to feed the clowns…so we all went off to Hacienda!….We have a parade in Henderson (where I live) on December 6th in the morning and that evening in Princeton, IN and then one more in Booneville, IN on the 7th. the fun part come after the parade. Every year RCC does several corporate events that in turn get donations. In December of each year we take those donation and put them back in to local charities such as food banks and homeless shelters and of course one of our favorite charities…Santa’s Clothe Club where we donate $1000 to clothe 10 local children for winter…what a great charity!.
I hope all is spread laughter and cheer this CHRISTMAS Season. Bump a Nose and “Focus on the Dream!”
January 9, 2009 at 5:40 am
Mary 'Sunshine' Barrett
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Did your’s begin with a BANG?
River City Clowns hit the ground running with the Clown Class Informational Meeting this weekend. Hopefully we’ll get a good number of new baby clowns.
During the year, we ‘talk up’ our clowning at all of the events. When we do this, there are always interested people who want to learn about the craft. We give them our business card or ask for their personal info, address, phone, email, and we keep a list or an envelope or a folder with ALL those names. Evently they all end up on a spreadsheet and the second week in November we send out letters informing them of the upcoming clown class. This year I had 47 letters that went out. Hopefully we’ll get 15 joeys – life gets in the way for many of those interested.
Anyhow, we’re looking forward to the training – it’s a huge commitment for the new clowns and our veteran clowns. We ask for help and RCC is great and stepping up and helping. We have LIVE models along with the videos which makes it a lot of fun – plus we see the makeup tricks the veterans use and we learn something too!
Hope your clown troup is also working on MEMBERSHIP!
January 26, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Pat
Good Job Mary, I am having a class here in February, While mom is in Orlando sunning herself, I am here in the frozen tundra working. That somehow just doesn’t seem right. Oh well maybe next year I’ll go to FLA and leave her here.
January 28, 2009 at 6:36 am
Jeff "ToeKnee" DeMoss
Hello all!.. Well again Mary “Sunshine” is off to a great start with yet another class. We have 13 joeys that have completed the training on White face. Unfortunately, I could not make it to the training since I had already committed to doing another event. However, as Mary mentioned earlier, we always get good participation from our other clowns to help out with classes and events.
We are looking for a great 2009. It wont be long till it is time to elect officers and start planning more toward this year’s conference. I cant wait.
Hope to see everyone soon!….Bump a Nose!
February 13, 2009 at 6:47 am
Travis "Sabre" Barman
High Hopes up here in Fort Wayne, will be starting a new clown class on March 3rd. We are also going to have a story about our chapter in one of the local newspapers.
February 13, 2009 at 6:49 am
Travis "Sabre" Barman
High Hopes in Fort Wayne will be having a new clown class starting March 3rd and we also have a story on the chapter coming out in one of our local papers.
February 14, 2009 at 7:51 am
Larry "Sparkles" Gibson
Well, it looks like Smiles Unlimited Universal Clown Ministry is busy! There are several chapters out there that are having clown classes or getting ready to have one. Saturday Feb.14th Ruth and I are going down to Seymour, In. to “Giggles and More Chapter to check out their new clowns that they have. This will be their decision week on what type charaacter they want to be. We are taking Pat of “Anderson Costumes Inc.” down with us so the chapters new clowns will have a way to pick out their wigs,nose’s, gloves and whatever else they will need. Then rest of the chapter can buy some goodies also. It should be allot of fun and a full day. What a way to spend Valentines Day! Keep up the good work and I will see you all the next time we meet. Bump A Nose!
February 22, 2009 at 11:51 am
Peppermint
Clowns on the Ball has another new “first”. We were having trouble getting new people to join us. We had two guys (wives are clowns) who were interested. Jodie decided to have a class in her house with just the two of them. They are great! Welcome Dum Dum and Boxkar Willie!!
April 6, 2009 at 6:58 am
Sunbeam
Our new class of High Hopes clowns are coming along nicely. We have a historical first this year. We actually have more male than female students! I don’t know if any other chapters have had this happen but it’s a first for High Hopes.
May 15, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Ms Pinkie
Hey all your clown buddies. We have been very busy making smiles at Rivercity clowns so far this year. We are all looking forward to conference. This week we have visited 5 nursing homes in celebration of nursing home week. We have not ony supplied a great many smiles to those folks in area nursing home but have also warmed all of our hearts. Many of our new baby clowns are out there participating in events and we are glad to have all their help and enthusiasm.We are also looking forward to the Redskelton parade of a 1000 clowns in Vincennes, In. on June 13th. Line up is 10:00a.m. eastern time. for more information log on to redskelton parade. come join the fun!! there will be about 15 Rivercity clowns at this event this year. Rooms are availaable at the University for free friday night,just make your reservation on line at redskelton parade site.Another great event for smiles unlimited to be a part of in the clowning community.Meet clowns from all over the country, some from as far away as california.
keep on smiling
ms pinkie
May 21, 2009 at 9:11 am
Peanut Butter (Dave Mueller)
Clowns on Track / Western Smiles chapters
J. C. Stitches (Margaret Wynkoop) and I are members of two chapters – Western Smiles in Plainfield & Clowns on Track (fromerly St. Christopher, now meeting at St. Vincent’s Hospital on W. 86th St. – for the geographically impaired, that’s in the extreme NW corner of Marion Co. about 1 1/2 miles from the Holiday Inn North). One chapter might schedule an event, but clowns from both chapters participate.
Perhaps you’re finding this too: We become comfortable in participatiing in the same activities each year and look forward to them. This is enough to keep most of us quite busy. Sometimes this and the constant turn-over of staff members at nursing homes & other facilities prevent us from spreading out and scheduling additional events with other groups.
Speedy (Hayden Woods) & Mable (Marilyn Rogers) keep us inspired & active with the Clowns on Track chapter. We do several activities with St. Vincents and it’s various outreaches. Mable has us doing crafts in our “spare time” for several of her charitable agencies.
At one of our recent meetings (Second Sunday of each month. Please come on down.) We practiced most of the skits again. Thanks, Stitches, for being our “prop lady”.
From Western Smiles we recently entertained:
— at a Saturday night dinner & auction at Mooresville Christian Academy where Mable is a regular volunteer.
— at a Friday night carnival at Mary Riggs Community Center & Head Start School
— at Sunday afternoon walks for Cystic Fibrosis & the March of Dimes.
— at a COLD Saturday morning outdoor campout at Camp Delwood for the Carmel Girl Scouts
P. B.
(Dave Mueller)
aka “Tin Can Santa”
July 27, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Ashley " Gabby Giggles" Smith
Last friday afternoon, I had been asked to go to the Avon Public library to help with the summer reading program! I spoke to the children about my clowning and how i became a clown. After an hour spending time putting on my clown makeup and becoming gabby giggles, I decided to go take a visit to see a special friend at the Plainfield Nursing home where I did my first clown show nearly 9 years ago. Carmella is 80 years old and she became blind ten years ago. I meet her over four years ago at church. Carmella always knew i was a clown! I walked in and i told her who i was, but she didnt know that I was in clown. I took her hand and she felt my hair. The first thing she said, ” Did u get a perm?” Then i took her hand and she felt my nose, and then my dress and bloomers. She started to laugh and she was so excited that I came to visit her in clown!! Even though she blind and cant see, but she will always know how i feel me when im in clown. It made my day to know that I made someone smile!!
August 22, 2009 at 3:20 am
Peanut Butter (Dave Mueller)
I WAS planning on being there Saturday morning Aug. 15, 2009 at the conference to have my picture taken with the rest of the 20th anniversary attendees. I WAS in makeup and on my way there. Hope you all enjoyed the weekend’s events. This is what happened to me instead.
Santa Makes Lists, Even In August!
(A ?typical? day in the life of a clown and year-round Santa Claus – We really don’t need days like this one too often.)
Ever have one of those days when almost NOTHING goes right? Last Saturday started out that way but ended up much better than I thought it would.
All storytellers know that a story can get better with every telling because we tend to “tweak” it each time or adapt it to a particular audience. All through these potential disasters, I was encouraged by human nature and pleasantly surprised at how many people went out of their way to help me out. I hope you enjoy this rough draft. Your comments and similar “war stories” in response are encouraged.
I had a full day planned and needed several changes of clothes to complete it:
1. Join 75 other clowns at a convention for a 20th anniversary picture.
2. Scrub out of makeup and change into my Santa Claus suit for a second appointment with the photographer.
3. Change into a white shirt and tie and drive across town to a former student’s jewelry store to have some old pieces appraised and discuss how Santa might be involved with his Christmas promotions.
4. Stop at a branch of my bank to make a deposit and get some cash for the rest of the day.
5. Spend the late afternoon and early evening at a State Fair Cub Scout project where I would be wearing a full Scout uniform.
6. Let my creative juices flow and take pictures of some of the midway rides after dark.
I put the hobo makeup and costume on at home – patched pants, shirt, apron, chef’s hat and mismatched shoes. Eight miles away from the conference hotel and 45 minutes before picture time, I noticed steam billowing out the back of my car and watched the needle of the temperature gauge shoot right up into the red zone.
My immediate thought was: busted radiator hose. Maybe it was the water pump, but no, it was too sudden to be to a water pump. I’m usually pretty accurate at figuring out the cause of car problems. If you drive clunkers you have to be. You also grumble “Oh, no, not again.” sometimes. When it comes to fixing them, I’m pretty good (make that barely-adequate) with hoses, cables, fluids, and belts. That’s my limit.
I got off the interstate highway and coasted into a Walgreen’s parking lot and drove the front wheels up onto a curb. That way I could crawl underneath when the car cooled off.
Scratch numbers 1 and 2 off my list.
Having NO money with me, I needed to get into Walgreen’s to use the ATM so that I could buy a gallon or two of water. This 24 hour Walgreen’s had closed the night before for inventory and would not open for another hour.
Got back to the car and carefully assessed my situation and the location. At the west side of the lot was a Laundromat. To the east of Walgreen’s was a Goodwill store. About six blocks further east was an auto parts store. I have been a customer at each business before.
According to the clown code of ethics “I will remove my makeup and change into my street clothes as soon as possible following my appearance, so that I cannot be associated with any incident that may be detrimental to the good name of clowning. I will conduct myself as a gentleman/lady at all times.”
The attendant at the Laundromat let me use one of the tanning booths and restroom to scrub off my makeup. I packed the apron and hat but kept on the thread-bare hobo pants and shirt since I might get just a little dirty. She told me to come back as many times as I needed to and she’d do everything she could to help.
I went to Goodwill and bought a 5XL raincoat for my mechanic’s outfit. I raised the hood of the car and examined the hoses and radiator. Front hoses were good. Now check the rear ones. I crawled under there and couldn’t even find them. Maybe my hands were too big. Examining the puddles of antifreeze in the engine compartment and on the ground didn’t do me any good because it was still dripping EVERYWHERE. I didn’t want to take off the radiator cap until the car cooled a little longer. I put the jewelry into my backpack and walked down to the auto-parts store. I figured they could show me a diagram of the engine and see if they had hoses in stock.
The auto-parts store closed down and is now a pawn shop. As long as I was there and I had the jewelry with me, I asked them do an appraisal. The clerk looked me over from top to bottom and back again. She called for her manager to meet us at the counter. When manager came through the curtains out of the back room and saw me, he stopped dead in his tracks and immediately checked to see if the security camera was turned on and working. He checked it twice! The manager did a mental appraisal of ME and then asked me if I wanted to pawn these items or sell them outright. I thanked them but didn’t take their estimate in writing.
Back to Walgreen’s. Bought one gallon of water. Removed the radiator cap and poured it in. The radiator was bone dry. I refilled the jug at the Laundromat. The attendant had watched me fiddling with the car again and retrieved all the detergent bottles from her trash cans, rinsed them out, and had them filled with water for me the next time I went in. “This might get you all the way home. Or, if you need to leave the car here overnight, here’s a city bus map. Use the change machine if you need some quarters. Good luck!” (Go to almost any Laundromat and you’ll see signs everywhere that the change machines are for CUSTOMERS ONLY.)
Studying the map and schedule, I found that with a transfer, I could still get to the state fair several hours ahead of my shift time and then get back out to the car in the early evening. Cross number 6 from my list. I went back to the tanning booth where I changed into my uniform. Since it was close to 90 degrees, I put on my dressy white shirt for a sun screen. I locked up the car, got my backpack, a hat, my walking stick, and walked out to the bus stop.
The bus was there in ten minutes. When the bus driver stopped for me, she said, “Good morning, Santa. How do you like MY sleigh?” Did I mention that my walking stick was a 5 foot wooden candy cane and my hat was a red summer-mesh western one with a white Scout neckerchief for a hatband? I paid for my ticket and asked for a transfer. The driver asked me where I was going and told me it would be cheaper to buy an unlimited one day pass.
Relaxed a little on the bus and studied the schedules and map more carefully. Cell phone calls to the bank to locate another branch and one to the jeweler. Both were on bus routes and had extended Saturday hours. A couple of more transfers and I could get to all of them!
Just before my stop, the driver asked to look at my notes and then recited an entire day’s itinerary for me. She knows her city very well! She thanked me for all the good Christmases, but then said, “You know, Santa, I had a really bad Christmas when I was twelve and for a long time I really wanted to tell you where to get off. Well, this is it. Your next stop is across the street. See you NEXT Christmas. I’ll send you my list. I’ll try to make it neater than the one you just scribbled.”
I stopped at the bank and then the jewelry store. Imagine my surprise when this former grade school student of mine introduced me to his two infant grandkids and then invited me to his 25th high school reunion. He gave me a grand tour of the entire store. We talked about decorations and displays, changing rooms, privacy, and security. Not to worry about security. Not only did he have 24 hour cameras running, the “greeter” in the 3-piece suit who opened the door for me was an off-duty cop and was well-armed. The appraisal – within forty-four cents of the pawn shop’s offers.
When I left the store, the greeter gave me a coupon for a free dinner at the state fair. The store was a sponsor of one of the community events that day. I appreciated this since all this time I was thinking about how I would juggle the bills if I had an expensive repair coming up. What if it really was the water pump or something else major like that? Check off numbers 3 and 4. (Except I hadn’t worn the tie.)
At the state fair, the conductors didn’t charge Santa for his trolley ride. It was free on Senior Citizen days. They proudly showed me the John Deere tractors they were driving and told me that they only feed the tractors when they are working while Santa has to feed those reindeer every day! (I’d heard that analogy before when Eskimos replaced their dog sleds with snowmobiles.)
Things went well at the Scout event. But at the end of the evening the leader in charge mentioned that if I ever had a uniform inspection, I might want to consider a change of shoes. What – they were leather and they were polished. Looking down, I realized that I still had on my mismatched hobo shoes – one brownish red Oxford and one brown wingtip.
Two more buses and back to the car – a total of seven trips for the day. The unlimited pass saved me $8.25. Topped off the radiator and limped home on city streets. Got close to, but not quite, overheating again.
Epilogue:
Monday I did internet searches for all sorts of car repairs, made another list, and prepared myself for the worst. I left the car with King Midas on the way to work Tuesday morning. It WAS just a radiator hose. The garage’s mechanics have always grumbled about this particular Ford model because it is so hard to work on especially if they have large hands. The service rep recommended a second repair that would prevent engine damage later on.
When I paid the bill that afternoon I thanked him and told him I’d be back for the next needed service. I mentioned how nervous I had been about repair costs and how I had been burned by a less-reputable un-named franchise down the street last summer. The service rep said he tries to establish a long-term relationship with each customer and with each vehicle. How can he plan on staying in business for the next thirty years if he doesn’t?
Besides, when he saw the candy cane in the back seat and my stuffed Arctic fox in the rear window, he knew he’d better not cheat Santa Claus.
And, as far as cash for clunkers, I think Santa will keep this clunker a while longer, even if it is BLUE. After all, what else can go wrong?
February 3, 2010 at 12:34 am
William "Gabby" Pfeifer
I was looking through my copy of The New Calliope and found an ad for the 21st Annual Conference which is going to be held in my neighborhood. It brought back memories of our clowning with SKI in the early years of Smiles Unlimited. I will probably attend the conference.