Send In the Clowns...

"Come one, come all to the Greatest Show on Earth!

Tonight we feature the North Texas Fire Safety Clowns! Come get an autograph, maybe even a picture or two!"

Those are along the lines of what we heard last night as we, The Lewisville Fire Safety Clowns, joined about 30 other clowns from North Texas cities (and even Oklahoma!) and went to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus.

This is the second time in 3 years for Ashes, Petunia, and Radio to go rub elbows with the 'big wigs' and trade tips and laughs. I was fortunate to get to experience it all from the sidelines both years as a photographer. What a great time!

We arrived at 3:00, and waited for the other area clowns to arrive. The poor AA Center staff! They almost literally had to jump through hoops just to pass the growing group of goofy firemen standing around waiting for clown college to begin!

Around 4:30, the group was shuffled down to the floor of the arena where a few of the circus performers waited for us and welcomed us warmly. Then the clowns were broken into groups, where juggling, makeup, and acting tips were given to the fire clowns.

2 hours later, after a lot of falling, makeup, and juggling, (and even a question/answer session), the doors opened to the show visitors, and thousands of people gathered around to watch, meet, and talk with all of the clowns. The fire safety clowns were 'Ringling Staff' for a night!

Some of the highlights included:

• The Ringling Bros. clowns remembered the Lewisville clowns from 2 years ago, and were 'excited to see and talk with them again' (Ashes, Radio and Petunia were the only fire clowns invited in 2006)...my has it grown!


• My niece's first visit to the circus. I watched her during the show, and at one time, it took her 10 minutes to chew on a piece of pizza crust because she was so entranced...


• Watching the professionals and how nice and wonderful they were to open their home and advice to the other clowns. From beginning to end, it was like they all became a big family!


• Free tickets to watch the rest of the show. Great seats, too! Thank you!!!

Mom, dad and I were there for 7 hours...boy was I tired! Who knew it would take so much energy to keep up with almost 50 clowns and catch exciting moments for them all...

It was super cool being part of the original group that was there previously, but I can't help but want to see how the other fire safety clowns felt about being there...

If you know any clowns out there that can give me their (and other clowns') reviews, please pass it along to me; I'd love to have the comments!