Meet Pam Taylor - TGO’s Clown

Clowning Around With Pam Taylor

Pam was working as a civilian Family Support Division Chief on an Army base in Neu-Ulm, Germany when she fi rst dressed up like a clown, face make-up and all. It was a Halloween party and she fi gured, “Who doesn’t like a clown?” Well... there was an actual former Ringling clown in attendance and she immediately caught his attention. It was then that she learned how a real clown face should look and how all clown faces have their own identity. She received some great advice and from there she fell in love with being a clown. Pam Taylor and her husband, Bobby, discovered TGO about three years ago. They were having their motor home serviced at the Newmar factory in Indiana when they met a TGO couple who suggested they should come visit “our” park. They came, fell in love with TGO, purchased a place on Coach Club and after only a few months, decided they wanted to purchase a home. They now live on Plantation Drive and love everything TGO has to off er. Pam and Bobby’s previous home was in Virginia and they became full-time RVers about fi ve years before they settled down on Plantation. Their journeys took them to nearly every contiguous state in the union, with the exception of California, Oregon and Washington. During their travels they work camped and Pam would teach face painting, juggling and other activities to the kids in the camps. They also work camped at Ordway Swisher, a biological station that is a research, teaching, and extension facility of the University of Florida where Bobby had studied the Gopher Tortoise and received his Ph.D. in Biology. They both really enjoy the outdoors and like to spend their time hiking, biking and golfi ng. Bobby also likes to run marathons, although Pam doesn’t appear too keen about him doing that any more. (Hint!) While living in Virginia, Pam worked as a real estate agent and, while watching a St. Patrick’s parade, saw a group of clowns. She learned they had a local clown alley, so she and her daughter decided to take classes to become clowns. They went to conventions, learned to juggle, paint faces and make balloon animals. Pam also knows a few magic tricks and would occasionally hire on to entertain for small parties.

The clown alley in a circus is a backstage area where clowns change into their costumes and apply makeup. Generally, the clowns’ personal props, costumes, and other items are stored in this area as well. Clown alley was usually very close to the Big Top tents, along the side like an alley, so the clowns could get in and out quickly. If the circus show had some problem with a performance, the ringmaster could yell out “Clowns Allez” meaning “Clowns Go!” Today, most clowns do not use tents for dressing and make up, as travel trailers or motor homes are used. The term has also come to mean any professional grouping of clowns, in general, regardless of whether or not they are affi liated with a circus or carnival. Today, there are hundreds of clown alleys across America. The Villages have their own clown alley with about 150 members. Pam has recently started the TGO Clown Alley where she shows residents how to create a face, do face painting, dress up like clowns, juggle, make balloon animals, etc. They meet in the library every Thursday at 3:00 pm. Call her at 571-217-0444 if you are interested. “We want to get more people involved with our TGO Alley,” says Pam. “It would be great to go to retirement centers, or hospitals to make people happy. We’re also looking for residents interested in doing some skit script writing and some seamstresses to help make clown outfi ts.” Pam also has ideas for entering the Titusville Christmas and TGO Golf Cart parades. If you have the time, give her a call, you’ll quickly learn Pam is pretty serious about clowning around.

Above: Peter Maselli entertains by juggling pins or balls or those twirly plates on a stick. Right: Dennis Lecik is a world-class photographer who enjoys working with people and making them laugh. Far right: Pam practices creating her clown face at a recent class.