Behind the face paint and funny clothes, Shannon Anderson brings humor and healing to kids of all ages. She runs the Old Thyme Fun Shop and performs as Sunshine the Clown. Photo by Phil Houseal

Details:
The Old Thyme Fun Shop is located at 327 1/2 East Main. Phone 997-1852 to book Sunshine the Clown or Douglas "Dog Fleas" Vargas for your next event. Anderson will also help people get into a 1960s mood at the FabTones concert at the FBG Event Center this weekend. At her booth she will paint faces and sell groovy glasses and Beatles wigs.

webmaster: phil@fullhouseproductions.net

Sunshine the Clown

by Phil Houseal
April 25, 2007

It's the kind of store you loved to go into when you were a kid.

There is the fake fly in the ice cube, the spilled coffee, the finger-shaped nose hair trimmer, a plastic rat, and the doormat that read, "Come Back With a Warrant." And then there are the classics: the handshake buzzer, fake vomit, and, of course, the rubber chicken.

Interestingly, the day I was in the Old Thyme Fun Shop on Main Street it wasn't kids buying the hillbilly teeth and rolling eyeballs. Instead, a steady stream of giggling grownups hauled away bags of fake bagels with the cockroach, and piles of T-shirts with naughty messages.

Ruling this kingdom of kitsch is Shannon Anderson, aka Sunshine the Clown.

It is amazing that Anderson is in the clown business at all. She didn't start clowning until 15 years ago, and she admits it was "strictly a financial decision."

"When I moved to Fredericksburg, I wondered what do I already know how to do to make a living?" she said. "Well, I already know magic, and I know balloons... I'll be a clown!"

Her first attempt at clowning was not much fun. In fact, she called it a "disaster."

"I was at this house full of fifth-graders, and they had every video game and a big screen TV, and here's this clown doing magic tricks," she recalled. "All of them were saying 'when are you going to leave?'" She chuckled. "I said, 'Now! Close your eyes and count to 10,' and I was out the door! I went home and said I'm never doing this again! Kids are mean!"

Luckily, Anderson couldn't walk away from her clowning career as easy as that. She already had another gig booked.

She decided that to be funny, she would have to work at it. So she studied other clowns, read books and watched tapes, and attended conventions to learn the art of the clown.

"Some people think anybody can do it; you just slap on some makeup and funny clothes," she said. "It's not that way. There really is an art to it."

Anderson has progressed so far she recently traveled to Russia with Patch Adams, the doctor immortalized in a movie for his work using clown techniques for healing.

That was quite an adventure, even for an extrovert like Anderson. Her group made the entire Russia trip "in clown" - in makeup and costume.

"That was my biggest fear - flying in clown," she said. "Now I think that is the only way to travel! People came up and talked to you. I got proposed to. One lady gave me 20 bucks on the shuttle bus to take to Russia to do something for the kids." She laughed at the memory.

Anderson pointed out that the clowning she did in Russia was in every sense miles away from going to people's houses to entertain them. She visited kids in hospitals and orphanages, trying to bring them to a more pleasant place.

"We were trying to connect with them and create a moment where their reality was different," she said. "Where they have reckless laughter instead of not enough food."

Anderson understands the depth of that pain. After losing her infant son, Aaron, eight years ago, Sunshine helped heal her.

"It was so much easier to be Sunshine than it was to be Shannon," she recalled. "When people came up and asked, 'how are you,' I could say, 'she's okay,' but this other girl is not. It was difficult, but I looked forward to being Sunshine as much as I could. It really helped me a lot."

Today she sees her son in every child's eyes, connecting her with every child on the planet.

"I just have this thing with kids," she said. "I would rather deal with children than adults, personally. It's for real, there are no games or manipulation."

She paused to show a customer how to perform the national anthem on a whoopee cushion. Obviously, clowning will always be part of Anderson's life.

"Laughter is therapeutic, it shakes up all your organs and makes a chemical reaction in your body that no drug can replace," she said. "Letting yourself play as an adult is one of the greatest things we can do for ourselves in this hectic, serious world. There's humor in everything, like it or not."

XXX