She was born as an adult 25 years ago and has worn the same outfit ever since. She is known to generations of Texada Island children and has heard many of the island’s deepest family secrets. She is “Bubbles” the clown, with her flashy rainbow wig and “Bigfoot” bedroom slipper shoes. She’s an instantly recognizable and much-adored fixture of island life.
“Clowns have fun,” says Bubbles, who appears at many Texada events and parties. “There’s that magic moment when you walk into a room full of children and you see their faces light up. Clowns bring happiness and happiness is contagious.” Seeing Bubbles perform is like taking a dose of instant feel-good medicine.
Her alter-ego Georgean “George” Childress, 55, says it doesn’t matter what’s going on in her personal life. When she puts on her costume and makeup, she becomes Bubbles. “I can be cranky as George but never as Bubbles.”
She says Bubbles loves to sing, dance, play games with children and read them stories. She loves lively, upbeat music and eating chocolate. She doesn’t like grumpy people or bullies. “If there’s one message Bubbles tries to convey to everyone she meets it’s ‘be kind to one another.’ You don’t know what’s going on in someone else’s home.”
Childress was born in Edmonton but grew up on Texada, where she belonged to Job’s Daughters, a youth group for girls related to members of the Masonic Lodge. Later, she served as an adult leader with the Powell River bethel and in other locations where she lived in BC. It was in Kamloops where Bubbles was born.
“The theme that year was clowns,” she recalls. “As a group leader I needed to create a clown costume, which my friend made and Bubbles still wears.” Perhaps because of her outgoing personality, she had already earned the nickname Bubbles and when she donned the costume, the name stuck. She later attended a Shiners’ clown workshop in Campbell River and learned to use stage makeup, which she says is much easier to put on than to take off.
“I love kids and the feeling is reciprocated,” says Bubbles, exuberantly. She has a persona children feel safe with and they often tell her family secrets, “though nothing really bad.” Among other events, she attends about six birthday parties per year. It was at one where a small child came up and pinched her. “’See,’ he told his friend, ‘I told you she had skin.’” It was at another, for an adult at Shinglemill Pub and Bistro, where she came in singing and horn-honking and the whole place joined in. “There’s no age limit on the people who like clowns.”
Each year at Shelter Point Park, where Childress runs the concession with her husband and biggest supporter, Gerald, Bubbles hosts a “Kids’ Day” with dancing, food, music, races and games. She makes balloon animals and does face-painting. Occasionally, she has to discipline a child, “but it’s always done with humour.” She’s a regular at Texada’s Sandcastle Weekend Parade and has appeared at Powell River’s Sea Fair parades. She’s attended the Nautical Days parade in Comox, a music festival in Courtenay, Canada Day celebrations and she’s a regular guest at Texada’s Sandpipers Preschool. She’s also part of the cheering section for Terry Fox runs.
The Shelter Point concession, with Bubbles’ help, hosted the second “can castle” day at the park, where people brought canned goods for the food bank and children made castles out of them. Bubbles has also volunteered extensively at Powell River General Hospital, training candy stripers, hooking up televisions for children and giving tours of the hospital for school groups. Childress is a former president of the hospital’s Ladies’ Auxiliary.
Bubbles says the most difficult appearance she’s ever made was at a hospice where a terminally ill friend was celebrating her last birthday. She dreaded going, but “when you’re on, you’re on,” and she brought great cheer to the event. “At the end of the day, it’s not about you or your feelings, it’s about the audience who you’re performing for. I try to never be sad, because who wants to see a sad clown?”
She admits that some people are afraid of clowns “from seeing too many horror movies,” which she can usually sense. Bubbles holds back with these people and lets them approach her. Lively, age-appropriate music helps to set the mood, she adds.
Bubbles says her rewards are making people happy. “I cherish the special moments of giving back to the community. They’re really amazing.” And Childress adds that being Bubbles “keeps her young at heart.”
