
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 27, 1994                   TAG: 9406230026
SECTION: SALEM FAIR                    PAGE: 2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By SARAH COX
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FAVORITE ACTS RETURN TO FAIR

There's nothing like old favorites to bring the folks back to the fair year after year. Both Sunshine the Clown and David Hamilton's Wonderful World of Balloons fall into that category, and the audience never seems to tire of either.

Carey Harveycutter, director of the Salem Civic Center, said the balloon man is one of the staples of the show. The first year of the event, seven years ago, a tremendous storm blew the big tent down. "He was out there holding the tent stakes down," Harveycutter recalled.

Hamilton's act is a mixture of sculptured balloons and family comedy, with a dash of audience participation. He starts the show with just one, skinny balloon; inflated, tied and twisted, it becomes the little puppy that began Hamilton's career. The basket of fruit, a rocking horse hat, a rainbow-filled cloud and the world famous 11-balloon motorcycle are all twisted in the twinkling of an eye.

Hamilton's career has taken him coast-to-coast for more than 20 years, touring state fairs, festivals and shopping malls. He will be featured on the Sunshine Stage, Tuesday through Friday, 6:30, 8 and 9:30 p.m., and Saturday through Monday, 5, 7 and 9 p.m.

Sunshine the Clown, another fair favorite, began his career inside a courtroom - on the side of justice. At one time, a judge asked the then-practicing attorney (whose real name is Patrick Prosser) if he were sporting Donald Duck on his tie.

"Yes, sir," was his response, and thus his clown was brought out of the closet. But his career is as interesting as his act.

After spending most of his first 30 years in theatre, Prosser felt called to the bar - the legal bar. He became a lawyer in Kentucky in 1973, and in '78 a client asked him to create a clown character for a regional drug chain. Patches was born, and later that character was sold to the drug chain. In 1980, he created Sunshine, and in 1986 showed him off at the Kentucky State Fair. Since then, the road has been open to Prosser.

Sunshine offers a 35-minute show, which will be featured this year at the Salem Fair Tuesday through Friday at 5:45, 7:15 and 8:45 p.m., and Saturday through Monday, at 4, 6 and 8:30 p.m.

by CNB