THE BALLOON MAN

Cabot Rotary Club sponsors Kelly Miller Circus

Clown Sherri Shepard visits with Carl Wahl, a resident at Spring Creek Health and Rehabilitation Center, to promote the upcoming circus. (Ed Galucki) By Ed Galucki / Staff Writer / egalucki@cabotstarherald.com Thursday, March 31, 2011 Travel? Fun? And get paid, too? Turning a hobby into a career meant being in the right place at the right time, and “practicing” for 15 years, for “self-made” clowns Sherri “Carlee” and Dave “Charlie” Shepard of Sarasota, Fla. The Shepards were at Cabot on March 23 making promotional appearances for the upcoming visit by the Kelly Miller Circus. The circus is sponsored by the Cabot Rotary Club, and a portion of the proceeds will go to the club, which supports the community through several projects. The circus will perform April 6 on the campus of Cabot Southside Elementary School at 2600 S. Pine St. Shows will be at 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tickets may be purchased at First Security Bank locations in Cabot and the Days Inn in Cabot. Advance tickets cost $10 for adults and $6 for children. They cost $15 for adults and $7 for children the day of the show. “This is what we do now. Travel about two weeks ahead of the circus to help our sponsors promote the show,” Sherri Shepard said. “Which do you think gets more attention? A poster? Or this?,” she asked performing a pirouette in her colorful clown persona, finishing with a “Ta-Da!” and a spread-arm flourish.The Shepards spoke about Kelly Miller Circus and their own work during a visit at Spring Creek Health and Rehabilitation Center. “This is our first year with Kelly, but we have been independent clowns for 15 years,” Sherri Shepard said. Becoming clowns was his wife’s doing, Dave Shepard said. “She started it, then got me into it.” Sherri Shepard said growing up almost next door to the winter headquarters of Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus drew her attention to clowning. “I went to libraries, got books on it and learned it myself,” she said. Dave Shepard said the job is great. “We get to meet lots of people and do lots of shows,” he said. “And you get to make people feel good.” “Excuse me,” Dave said taking a resident’s outstretched hand, kneeling to get close to her. “Time to go to work.” Other stops at Cabot for the day included Cabot United Methodist Church CDC Daycare, Cabot Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Magness Creek Early Learning Center, Mount Carmel Daycare, Spring Creek and Gordon Tubbs Residential Facility. Rotary Club member Tiffany Duhamel said Rotary International is an organization of business and professional leaders who work to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill and peace in the world. Rotary members find and support community service projects, Duhamel said. Proceeds from fundraisers, such as the circus appearance, go to support community projects in Cabot. They include sponsoring an exchange student, awarding a $1,000 scholarship to a local senior and providing 100 families with Thanksgiving food baskets. “This will allow us to give back to the community,” she said of the show