BOALSBURG — Members of Toontown Klowns will perform on Saturday in the Center Court Youth Area of the People’s Choice Festival, where they’ll be entertaining kids with pocket magic and their balloon-tying skills.
Here’s a fun fact about clowns: Rather than being called a “club,” a group of people who clown together is called an “alley.” The Toowntown Klowns alley is based in Altoona.
While Mitchell himself has been clowning for about eight years, he said his inspiration came from a comment on his second-grade report card, which read, “If David’s clown-like outbursts don’t cease, he will not succeed in life.”
Mitchell is certainly succeeding in life as a clown. He is the current president of Toontown Klowns, and was recently appointed alley director by Clowns of America International, making him responsible for every clown alley within that organization, which spans four countries.
Mitchell and his wife travel across the United States to go to clown conventions, where clowns compete in different categories, including makeup, costumes, skits, balloon-tying and more. They also were the firstplace male and female Auguste clown champions for 2017. (Auguste clowns are clowns who use mainly flesh-colored makeup as their bases.)
Mitchell said his forte is performing for children with disabilities.
“That’s my favorite part. To put a smile on any kid’s face is great, but those kids are my specialty,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said he likes to expose his group to opportunities to clown for differently abled people, and also to perform community service together as a group. He especially hopes to influence the kids who are taking up clowning.
“Children are the future of clowning. That’s when we want to teach it to them. I take my organization to pack lunches for the Mountain Lion Program on Thursday nights. We pack 1,200 lunches,” Mitchell said. “To me, these kinds of things show kids what they need to do for their community.”
Toontown Klowns is available to perform at charity events, private birthday parties and corporate functions within a two-hour radius of Altoona. For more information, call (814) 330-6026 or email toontownklowns@gmail.com.
