Grease Paint Alley Clowns (l to r) Paula ‘Jewelz” Mattison, Maureen “Buttons” Morgan, Donna “Spring-a-Doodle” Gutowski, Sallye “Puddlz” Stutzman.
Grease Paint Alley Clowns from Greece (NY) attended the Clowns of America International (COAI) convention in Erie, Pennsylvania. Along with clowns from several countries, as well as the United States, the Alley members attended seminars on various aspects of clowning, including hospital clowning, make-up, costuming, ‘paradeability’, balloon sculpting, face painting and skits. Grease Paint Alley members also participated in several competition categories, some for the first time. Alley president Cheryl (Gabby) Arnold won her first ribbon with a 6th place in Auguste make-up. First-time group skit competitors Paula (Jewelz) Mattison, Maureen (Buttons) Morgan, Donna (Spring-a-Doodle) Gutowski, Sallye (Puddlz) Stutzman, and skit director Bev Bryant won second place for their skit “Gone Fishing.”
COAI exists to promote clowning skills at the grass-roots level through educating and training local clown organizations called “alleys.” Grease Paint Alley has been bringing smiles and comfort for over 35 years to local area communities through its participation with the Golisano (Strong) Children’s Hospital, CURE (a childhood cancer organization), nursing homes, local volunteer fire companies, veterans groups, as well as being trained by the Red Cross and Red Nose Responders, to bring comfort to disaster victims.
Grease Paint Alley, as well as COAI, welcomes people of all ages to its clown organization. There was a 94 year old active COAI member at the convention who won several competition awards. Grease Paint Alley currently has five junior joeys (clowns), with plans to expand this program, as well as training for interested adults through the alley’s clown classes.
If bringing smiles and laughter to others is of interest to you, you can contact Grease Paint Alley Clowns at P.O. Box 26679, Rochester, NY 14626, or call (585) 234-4711.
Provided information and photo
