While the song was written by Stephen Sondheim and made famous after it was recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1973 and Judy Collins thereafter, I would rather you wouldn't - send in the clowns. It's unclear whether it's clowns or their antics that frighten me. But the fear of clowns, coulrophobia, is real.
Suffice to say that in an earlier era, they paralyzed me. So, it didn't help to look up from the bridge table on a recent Saturday night to find myself surrounded by miniature clowns. And they weren't that little - the longer I looked, the larger they got. At our neighbors' lovely home, my husband Rodney and I were playing in a couples' card game - three bridge tables of four, six couples. Everything was hunky-dory until I glanced up and saw a clown parachuting from the ceiling. And then, I saw the rest of them. A collection of clowns scattered about the elegant great room. Riding bicycles. Dancing with umbrellas. Done in bronze. I uttered not a word, but the game was pretty much over. Five words to Rodney on the walk home, "Did you see the clowns?"
It all harkens back to home, and the Rodeo at the Washington Parish Fair. It would have been the late 1960s, 1966 or 1967 perhaps, when I was just a tot. My dear old dad made big plans for the two of us, taking me to the Rodeo on Friday night. After a full Fair week, my mother was happy to have the night off. But the evening didn't last long at all, for Daddy and me. I remember him begging me to stay. He had, of course, paid for the tickets. But what I recall even more vividly is the clown car, the Volkswagen Bug they rode out in, being set on fire. And that is when, just minutes after the Rodeo's kick-off, I lobbied to leave. As Daddy told it, I wailed. So, he scooped up his unconsolable only child, carrying me in his arms to the car. I well remember my mother being frightened, not from the clowns but from our early arrival home, and my dad telling her, "Well, you're not going to believe this."
But then in 1969 I dressed as a clown for Halloween - probably a valiant attempt on my parents' part to help me deal with my fear. And happy as a clam in my cute costume made by my "Aunt G" - Genevieve Wood Magee - I wasn't afraid at all, of myself. But other clowns in costume, now that was a different story. So, despite my folks' best effort, it was my first and last Rodeo, until I was an adult. And even then, I sat on the edge of my seat just in case the clowns returned, in that clown car.
Yet, the Rodeo in the Arena at the Fair was a grand affair with majestic horses and cowboys riding bareback and calf roping and bull riding. It's unfortunate I missed most of that excitement. By the early 1980s, it was listed as the IRA Championship Rodeo. More recently, I've seen it advertised as the Tri-State Rodeo and the PRCA Rodeo. While I'm certainly no authority, all sound impressive.
And an army of locals come together each year to ensure its success. Using 2011 - the 100th annual Washington Parish Fair - as an example, the Arena & Rodeo was chaired by Billy Passman and co-chaired by Arthur Nobles. The Arena Special Events Chairman was Karl Bickham, Jr., and co-chairman was Byron Brumfield. Serving on the Washington Parish Fair Arena & Rodeo committee were Royce Barber, Bronis Brumfield, Byron Brumfield, Mark Edwards, Karen Ingram, Ricky Ingram, Regan Knight, Ashley Nobles, Cody Nobles, Jennifer Nobles, Kerry Nobles, Myra Nobles, Terry Nobles, Yvonne Nobles, Amie Passman, Brandon Passman, Brian Passman, Debra Passman, Austin Riley, Brad Riley, Lacy Riley, Tammy Riley, Angie Stewart, Brian Stewart, Elisa Thomas, J. T. Thomas, Robbie Thomas, and Pam Williford. Brian and Debra Passman are our kind neighbors, here in Washington Parish.
Curious about the Rodeo's history, I turned to the gold book - "The Story of the Washington Parish Fair 1911-1973" - that Momma and Daddy left me. Published by the Washington Parish Fair Association in August of 1973 by Delta Printing Company in Bogalusa, it was written and compiled by well-known locals Emma Burris and Elizabeth Ott Watts. And on page thirty-nine, I hit the jackpot.
In November of 1952 at the Fair Association meeting, Mrs. Don Bickham - that would be my "Aunt" Jence - suggested that the potential for a rodeo in 1953 be investigated by a committee which was promptly formed. Vertrees Young, President of the Fair Association, appointed the following to serve: Frank Heyward (who was also Vice-President and Manager of the Fair Association), Durward Seal, and Herd Miller. And according to plan, the first Rodeo took place in 1953. Lawrence Winifree staged it, using bleachers borrowed from Bogalusa High School and Louisiana State University. Interest in the Rodeo ran high until a slight decline in 1958, followed by its "revival in 1963." Since that time, it has been at the heart of the Fair, one of the favorite annual events for Fair goers. It occupies, as Ms. Emma and Ms. Elizabeth wrote, "an undisputed place of prominence." By 1972, the Washington Parish Fair Rodeo hosted the tri-state Rodeo finals.
And the event brought in clowns to entertain the crowd - everyone but me. Just a few short months before my birth at the end of 1964, "The Era-Leader" advertised in September the appearance of Wimpay, billed as England's funniest clown, at the Fair on October 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th of that year. Thank goodness, I missed him.
But you know it's true what they say - we will do anything for our children. Some twenty-eight years after the Rodeo that scared me to death, we booked M. T. Noggin when our only child turned three. He was the famous north shore clown who appeared at parties, entertaining guests with magic tricks and his little dog. In hindsight, with the exception of her Sweet Sixteen party, it was Betsy's best birthday ever. But I will never forget my father's expression when I told him the plans for his only grandchild's third birthday celebration. Incredulous, he responded, "You have hired a clown???"
