— Lady Clarabelle enjoys clowning around because it cheers up everybody, including herself.

“It makes me feel happy, and it makes other people happy,” said Lady Clarabelle, who has been entertaining people for more than 20 years.

“When I get into my make-up and clown costume, my problems don’t exist that day.”

Lady Clarabelle, also known as Sue Ann Zentack of Patton, said she never misses a parade in Cambria and neighboring counties.

She also donates her time to entertain at fire company festivals, community events such as Richland Community Days and nursing homes.

Lady Clarabelle finds children’s birthday parties to be great venues for displaying all the skills she has learned as a clown.

She begins by showing the children a few simple magic tricks before bringing out

her live turtledoves and live rabbits.

Every one of the tricks has a story behind it, said Lady Clarabelle, who charges a nominal fee for private parties.

The first animal trick begins with Lady Clarabelle pulling two Slinky toys from a box and telling the crowd that the steel wire for the toys was manufactured in Johnstown.

She then removes a rubber chicken and an egg from the box.

“I tell the audience that the chicken had just laid an egg,” she said.

Lady Clarabelle then places the lid back on the box and tells the children to say a magic word.

“I then pull Faith and Hope (the two turtledoves) out of the box,” she said.

“The parents and grandparents enjoy that trick as much as the children.”

After doing the chicken dance and the hokeypokey, she asks children and adults to participate in a game in which chocolate milk is drunk from a baby bottle. The winner gets a prize.

Lady Clarabelle then asks the children to help her with another magic trick in which she opens a box to show that two stuffed rabbits are inside.

“I then close the box, sprinkle magic powder on the box, open it again and pull out two live Angora rabbits.

“The children like that trick,” she said. “They are amazed that the rabbits are alive.”

The reaction from the children is delightful in more than one way for Lady Clarabelle.

“When a child says to me, ‘I love you Lady Clarabelle,’ and gives me a hug, that makes it all worthwhile,” she said.

Heather Burkett, of Windber, has brought Lady Clarabelle to entertain for the birthday parties of her daughter, Alexis Yanosky, and nieces and nephews.

“She’s really good,” Burkett said. “The children really enjoyed her. We’ll be bringing her back again.”

She said Lady Clarabelle sends her and her daughter a Christmas card each year and sends Alexis birthday cards.

“I thought I just hired her to be a clown, but she has been with us ever since.”

Another of the entertainer’s favorite stops are fire company festivals held in Cresson, Lilly and Carrolltown and the annual Cambria County Firemen’s Festival that was held in Portage during the summer.

“I feel we couldn’t do without our fire companies,” she said about why she donates her time to entertain at the events.

Lady Clarabelle, a retired nurse’s aide, said she also enjoys entertaining at nursing homes with the residents enjoying the turtledove and rabbit trick as much as any youngster.

Lady Clarabelle yearned to become a clown for many years and found the parade during the Johnstown Flood Centennial in 1989 the perfect opportunity to get started.

“I like to make people laugh,” said Lady Clarabelle, who grew up in Kernville and graduated from Greater Johnstown High School in 1965.

“It takes you years to gain notoriety,” she said. “You get that by going to different events and performing.

“It’s not always easy to make people laugh. A clown has to realize that not everybody is having a good day, so I just keep trying to cheer people up.”

Lady Clarabelle has a dozen costumes for various holidays and occasions such as Christmas and Halloween.

Vic Miller, chairman of the Portage Halloween parade, said Lady Clarabelle never misses a Halloween or Christmas parade in Portage.

She has the knack for being a clown, he said.

“The crowd likes her.”

Robert Crum, chief of the Lilly Volunteer Fire Company, said Lady Clarabelle is always a hit at the company’s annual summer carnival.

She drives her car in the parade and tosses candy to the children, he said. After the parade, she paints the faces of children and does magic tricks with her rabbits.

“She’s been a great contributor,” Crum said, adding that she donates the money she earns from painting faces to the fire company.

Ed Owens, assistant chief of the Carrolltown Volunteer Fire Company, said Lady Clarabelle has been attending their annual festival for about 20 years and does a good job.

“She donates her time to help us out,” he said, adding that she gives the proceeds from painting faces to the fire company.

Andy Solomon, organizer of the Columbus Day parade in Johnstown, said Lady Clarabelle never hesitates to attend the event.

“She’s a great clown,” he said.

“She’s great with the young people.”

Click here to subscribe to The Tribune-Democrat print edition.

Click here to subscribe to The Tribune-Democrat e-edition.