Send in the clowns

This is where I spent most of my week.  American Clown Academy held their second year in a campground close to where I live.  I used to be involved in ClownTown for over 20 years.  This is somewhat a take off from that.  We started out with ClownTown with about this many clowns. We climbed to over 300.  We are hoping to keep this camp small and personal.  We provided a Friday night thru Sunday noon clown instruction.  This new camp runs from Sunday til Saturday.  The campers stay all week in cabins.  No A/C or bathroom.  You have showers and bathrooms close by but you have to walk to them.  No I didn't stay.  I came home at night. They serve three great meals a day.  I never made breakfast.  Since another clown and I were gluten free the chef made us special fruit salads when sandwiches were served.  These pictures were taken over the week.  All stages.....some for rehearsals, some for the show at the church.  Some just for fun.  I missed the group picture.  I was picking up my grandkids to go to the show.  Bad timing, huh.  See the two red heads in the front.  That was the photographer and his daughter.  He hadn't planned on being a clown.  The ones not in costumes are the teachers and the staff.  The group picture was taken after they had been in makeup for 3 hours in the heat.  The next  picture  is of Joey Thurman.  Those from the Georgia area may have seen his traveling circus.  They set up at fairs and put on their own trapeze and clown acts.  There is going to be a movie, a documentary of his life soon.....called "Face Paint."  We got to preview the movie and it was great.  The two ladies on the ends are from Canada.  I picked one up from the airport.

This young guy is 13.  He's from Michigan and don't be surprised if you don't see him somewhere someday.  This was his first year as a clown.  He has great talent.  He has been in other productions in his hometown area.  He was not only talented but a very nice young man.  He had one of the pro clowns do his face but this time he did his own.

Okay.....so sorry that these are sideways.  This guy was from Colorado and drove himself to the camp.  I am guessing he is close to 80.  Yes, 13 to 80 were the ages.  I would say the average age was 55-65.

This is Smarty Pants.....she was in the other picture.  She is not very tall but she sure pulls her weight.  She is really a cute clown and so funny.  She is a camp favorite.

This guy came from New Jersey. 

I don't know where these characters came from.........oh, that's me and my friend LuLu.  You have met her in another post.  We had fun this week being helpers and socializing with everyone.

Don't you love this car.  The next picture is of my new I Phone.  Yep, I finally got one.  I am going to alter it because I don't think the eye looks "eye" enough.  Either a googly eye or some wild eye lashes.  Whatcha think?

I know you are wondering what I look like as a clown.  Here I am in an costume.  I am going more casual these days without the wig and whiteface.  The next guy owns the rainbow car. 

And one final shot of my grands at the show.  We got to go in before everyone else.  They got so much attention.  The whole idea of the show is to polish the skills they have learned.  So being around children is pretty important.  My grands loved them.  All except Smarty Pants and Mabel gave her a rough time.  I know that my grandson looks a little sober and like he's not having fun.  He is so serious.  But when I told him we had to leave so he could get home to bed......he begged to stay longer.  He also got to go up front and be in one of the skits.  The kids were doing magic tricks in the back seat on the way home.  Mabel kept saying "TaDa".  So it was a fun week.......but I am tired.  Those poor campers went late into the night and up early in the morning.  I don't know if they got a lot of sleep but I do know that they had fun.

Hope you all have lots of laughs this week-end.