What Happened in November

The meeting was called to order at 6:43pm. We had 13 delightful clowns in attendance and two special guests – Dal Sanders and Sarah Goss – Welcome! As usual we began with a Stand & Share—Bonita debuted at her very first art fair, selling her handmade puppets and puppet-making kits! She sold six puppets and two kits and even bravely navigated the mystical land of Square payments. Kits include knit puppets, sock puppets, and spoon puppets. Creativity for days!

Miss Cookie has been spreading the Funko Pop joy and discovered a treasure trove of Earl's classic Punch-Out Doll books. What a find!

Dal & Cinde returned from Las Vegas, baby! where they attended the Discover Magic Convention. Their Dallas Magic Academy was named "Presenter of the Year" after teaching 611 students since January 1st. Huge shout-out to William Beatty for being a super-powered helper-magician!

Old Business

The Minutes from October were Approved and the Treasurer report was presented.

The TCA Board has officially decided that 2027 cruise convention! Which means... we are hosting the 2026 TCA Convention right here in DFW! We will likely have it the second or third week of August 2026. The Co-Chairwomen will be Cinde Sanders & Susan Keys. Volunteers are needed: You! Yes, you! It will probably be in the Irving area since that is a good central area for DFW. We have had some hotel bids, but no tours yet.

There are Two volunteer opportunities coming up in December for the Children's Cancer Fund. Susan will email details to everyone who signs up.

New Business

We had elections for 2026 DFW CRU officers. In a democratic whirlwind (and a motion to suspend Robert's Rules, thanks Dal!), the following officers were chosen by acclimation:

President — Tricia Gregory
Vice President — William Beatty
Secretary — Sterling
Treasurer — Debbie Davis
Sergeant at Arms — Willie Thomas

Board Members

Cinde Sanders — Past President
Margaret Clauder
Bonita Riley
Martha Warren

There was a lively reminder that dues are a thing and that the Secretary & Treasurer will team up to make sure we are all current TCA members. (DFW CRU dues run Jan – Dec. We are not a COAI alley so no dues there, but TCA dues run April–March.) 2025 Awards voting was completed and the winners will be announced at the Annual Party in January.

Parades & Performances

We will be clowning proudly in TWO parades:

Denison Christmas Parade — Dec 4
Dallas Holiday Parade — Dec 6

Cinde also mentioned the MLK Parade on January 19 — more sleuthing to follow!

Meeting adjourned: 7:57 PM (just in time for more fun!)

GLOW Performances

The spotlights shined on:

Deluxo — Holiday Show
Ace — You'll Log (get it?)
Cinde — Endless Gift Bag
Tricia — Puppet Sing-Along
Dal — Santa's Suits Coloring Books

Dal shared some fun audience-management magic: Let kids hold stockings (so busy hands do not investigate the books), and he cues kids adults on scoring. What a FUN night!

A Parade Double-Header

Fellow joy-spreaders of DFW Clowns “R” Us,

This December, your blue-haired parade rookie Ace took the plunge: two Christmas parades in three days, both on foot, both in full regalia.

Denison on December 4 was pure small-town warmth. Chilly night, bright lights, and a crowd packed tight along Main Street, Woodard, and Rusk. I debuted two new parade gags: a carved wooden “Yule Log” (with the word “you’ll” spelled out for maximum groan) and a 3-D-printed “Missile Toe” rocket that fit perfectly in my vest pocket. The Yule Log got plenty of knowing laughs, but I quickly realized that setting up the gag by asking people if they were looking forward to Christmas was taking too long and I found myself sprinting to catch up to get back to my place in the parade. It didn’t take too long before I realized that my “Missile Toe” was a superior gag. All I had to do was jog along the road, asking people if they would dropped some mistletoe. Special shoutout to alley member Ryan Weaver, who was featured for his puppetry on in the Herald Democrat newspaper and on KTEN News.

Dallas on December 6 was a different beast: up at 2 a.m. for makeup, downtown by 5 a.m., entertaining the crowd by 7 a.m., home after 11 a.m. The Yule Log stayed in my apartment (it was a bit too bulky for four hours of street performance), but the Missile Toe became my secret weapon. Quick draw, instant smiles from onlookers on the side of the road to marching bands stuck vamping in place to beauty queens in convertibles to and balloon handlers stuck in place, I made it my mission to have fun and amuse everyone around. The fun part about being a parade clown is that nobody bats an eye if you wander into the middle of the parade even as it's going on (though I did make sure that I didn't interrupt anyone while they were performing).

Also, as part of my ABC mindset (short for “always be 'crootin”), I made sure to plug the alley to any clowns I could at the DHP, and even to a few onlookers. The alley cards came in quite handy! Huge shout-out to Sarah Goss, aka Clara the Clown, who had her very first clowning experience at the Dallas Holiday Parade! Waking up that early and performing for that many people is no small feat. Clara, you were brilliant!

By the time I peeled off the blue wig Saturday afternoon, I was running on fumes (I had only managed five hours of sleep the night before). I crashed hard that night and slept until late Sunday morning, but it was worth every exhausted step.

Parades are now officially my thing. Here’s to warmer feet and more Missile Toe moments in 2026!

— Ace

Thanks to All Who Volunteered

Denton Holiday Parade: Ace and Weaver
Dallas Holiday Parade: Ace and Clara
Lively Point Youth Center Holiday Dance: Weebo
And everyone who volunteered with the Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Holiday Event and Children's Sickle Cell Holiday Event

And a special thanks to the Georgia Farrow Recreation Center for giving us the space for our alley events. We gifted them snacks, balloons and flowers for the Holiday season!

The Clown Chronicles: December ‘25