Nov_Dec_1998

November/December, 1998
Peppermint
and how
shegrew
By Angel Ocasio
PO Box 4331
Vancouver, WA 98662
Unlike Halloweens past, this year her costume creation
for the Annual Halloween Party would have an incredible
impact on her life ...
It started in the fall of 1980 for Karen Reinholt, better
known in the world of clowning as "Peppermint."lt was
Halloween night in Portland , OR , where Karen was dressed
up as a clown.Not having the clown education or resources
for cl9wn supplies , Karen got creative.
She fashioned a clown character from resource
information obtained at her local public library, as well as
from bits she had seen on television and from magazine
articles. Karen made a simple wig from the head of a mop,
which she dyed red. She attached a strap to the mop wig to
secure it to her head. Her clown nose was made from half a
ping pong ball (also colored red), and held onto her nose
with eyelash adhesive. Karen applied a water-based
makeup she had purchased in the Halloween section of a
local department store . The application process was a real
learning experience, in that she applied it and washed it off
four times before she was satisfied.
Karen was such a big hit at the party that she took first
place for best costume: a basic one-piece costume with a
detachab le collar, pompons on the front and matching
pompons on her sneakers.
After the party, Karen felt it was a shame to have only
used the costume once, espec ially since she had so much
fun with it. She knew there was a lot more to this clown
business than just a costume and makeup and acting silly.
She really wanted to do something more with it. The
costume went into the closet and Karen went in search of
resources to help educate her in the art of clowning.
She soon became frustrated with what little information
she was able to find in her area. There wasn't a listing for
clowns in the telephone book and no clown alleys were in
existence. Any time Karen saw a clown, they were from out
Angel and Karen: friends and co-clowns
of town , and even they didn't have information about clown
organizations for her.
That spring, another opportunity to get into clown came
for Karen when her church began planning their annual
spaghetti feed. Having been active with various family
programs in her church, Karen found that at most church
events, the children were bored and had very little to do
while their parents socialized. So she volunteered to
entertain the children. Her offer was quickly accepted and
now: What to do? Anxiety set it. All she knew was that she
had made a commitment and somehow she was going to
see it through.
Since she had a few grease pencils, Karen decided to
do face painting, as elemental as it might be; She'd hand
out deflated balloons, too, because she didn 't know how to
do balloon animals. Result? The children swarmed after her.
She was an instant hit.
Not knowing about giving a clown character a name, she
was repeatedly asked who she was. What was her name?
She answered, "Mrs. Clown" -- all she could come up with at
the moment. Of course, the children wanted to know where
Mr. Clown was. Karen told them he was at another event;
she knew that if she'd said there's wasn't a Mr. Clown, a
whole new can of worms would have been opened.
4 The New Calliope