Amanda in all her clowning glory

December 17 2011

Reporter AMANDA DURRY is well known for being a bit of a clown so when the opportunity came up to be an actual clown, it was almost too good to be true. She shares her story about the day in the life of an official fool.

When it comes to clowns, people either love them, get creeped out by them or are deeply afraid of them.
For me, I'm envious of them.
How great would it be to wake up every morning, put on layers of make-up, an oversized costume and act like a complete lunatic for the entire day?
You could do all sorts of things and people would never know.
I don't mean this in a creepy way, but you could have the freedom to act the fool and get away with it.
So when the opportunity came up to be a clown in this year's Ashburton Business Association Santa Parade, I thought it would be a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
And I was right.
I recruited a friend, who happens to be a teacher, who recruited another teacher and some kids.
The plans were relatively loose – meet at the McKenzie Centre for costume try-on and go from there.
We were joined by a few others for costume try-on and for me, it was love at first sight.
Clown

Purple, green, blue and white – a brilliant combination of colours in my view and an excellent costume.
So I tried it on. It was a little big but I thought hey, these things aren't meant to be fitted are they?
I was happy, so tried on the wig.
Bright green curly hair cascading from a multi coloured hat – talk about a hole-in-one.
So there we were, costumes on, wigs tested.
Make-up time.
With so many junior clowns, us senior clowns decided to go on the road to get some lunch and some face paint for the occasion.
Of course, we were already changed so going in the clown costumes was the only sensible idea.
After buying eight pots of face paint, four white and four glorious colours, we returned to the McKenzie Centre where we had a speedy lunch before the fun really started.
We had a good system.
White to cover the face first, then everyone got to choose their own colours.
Red was clearly popular for noses and mouths, while others were more creative.
In the rush, the adult clowns nearly missed out on getting their make up done so it ended up being quite a speedy job but I must admit, we still looked the part.
While the rest of the parade participants were lined up and ready to roll, we had to make a last minute dash across Mona Square to get in the action, following a quick clown pep talk.
Just be as silly and clowny as you can was the advice.
So off we went, in all out clown glory.
I ended up being a responsible clown and helped looked after five-year-old Jesse, one of the youngest of the junior clowns.
It didn't get off to a good start as he stumbled and nearly fell completely over.
Responsible?
Yeah right.
But then we got into the swing of things.
We skipped. We ran. We waved.
We high-fived and I approached people in the crowd who I knew, just to creep them out.
While some other clowns had scooters or bikes, we kept it simple and did the hard yards.
I didn't realise how long East Street is.
We made it almost to the end. And we headed back for another turn – the clowning about was not over yet.
We made it about halfway back up the street before turning around.
Poor wee Jesse was starting to get tired so we made the most of our last run. He even got a lolly from Harold.
We joined the crowd watching the parade near the clock tower, where we had to meet Jesse's family.
It was while waiting, and watching the final participants in the parade, that a ute drove past.
It was quite a nice ute and on the back was quite the group of unusual looking people – the group of clowns!
I'd missed the ride so did the only thing I could – took my clowny self back up the street.
By that time, the crowd was dispersing and I felt a like a very lonely clown, not to mention felt like a bit of an egg.
By the time I arrived back, the ute load of clowns were still not there so I took the chance to relax briefly.
I was a pooped clown that's for sure.
I'd done a lot of walking and without putting myself down too much, I'm not exactly a finely-tuned athlete so a rest was well deserved.
The rest arrived back and that was it.
The day was over.
But what a day it was.
It was clear that all those involved had a great time and there were even a few whispers about being back next year.
And who knows, me being an official clown could become a regular thing.

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