He is big for his age, with orange hair, a white face, striped shirt and very big feet.  He is seven years old, but he rides a motorcycle and oh boy can he juggle!  As precise as juggling is, he is a klutz, smacking into doors, fumbling with chairs.  His name is Crossroad, and he is a clown.  

"I'm just silly.  I'm a silly buffoon," says Frank Towner, the man behind the clown.  "It's juggling, face painting, balloons, physical comedy and buffoonery.  Now I'm a little older so I'm diving and rolling and tumbling less.  But I always run into doors, trip over things.  And the big horn has become my trademark."

Towner's day job is CEO of the Ithaca YMCA.  but with an average of 115 clowning gigs per year, being Crossroad (not Crossroads -- that is the bar & grill) is nearly a second full time job.  Somehow he manages that alongside volunteering in the Lansing Fire Department, various business ventures he and his wife share, and spending time with his family.

"My life is full," Towner says.  "The classic day for me is go to the Y, leave for a fire call, get into makeup sometime in the afternoon to go to a gig, and then maybe go to a meeting before 8 o'clock at night.  That's a full day."


Crossroads was born in the 1970s when Towner was a Brighton High School junior on the yearbook staff.  The yearbook was called 'Crossroads' and Towner suggested publicizing it with a clown.

"I suggested we have a clown and go from home room to home room and sell the yearbook.  Two girls, Mary and Robin had some makeup.  I had a costume.  I was going to go into the high school basketball game to sell the yearbook.  I was outside the auditorium in costume.  I was about to go in.  And my knees were literally knocking.  But I said to myself, 'You've got to go.'  So I ran into the gym.  I'd stop and open the yearbook and say 'Buy Crossroads yearbook!'  And I ran out the back."

It could have ended there, but it didn't.  Towner and Robin performed at the school talent show as two clowns.  Then Robin's mother learned of a clown class being taught at Xerox in nearby Webster.  It was a ten week class taught by a local clown for ten dollars.  She enrolled Robin, Mary and Towner.

"I was a hard guy, a leather-wearing, motorcycle boots guy who hung out with a questionable crowd, but at the same time I knew everybody," Towner says.  "They thought, 'Oh man, we're going to go to a clown class with Frank Towner?!'  But we became friends."

Coco The Clown taught history, makeup, balloons, costumes, and the class ended with a performance.  But Towner never thought of clowning as a business until his senior year when girlfriend's mother booked him to clown at her sister's birthday party.

"At the end of the party her father gave me twenty bucks," Towner recalls.  "I said 'I don't need this'.  I never thought about clowing as a business.  But he was great -- I'll never forget this.  He said, 'If you're going to work you're going to make money.'  So from that time on if somebody wanted me I said 'Twenty bucks'."

Today he charges more, but says the clown money is fun money for he and his wife and three kids.  Money from his job at the Y and the family's other businesses are for paying the bills, but clown money goes for buying little things or a nice dinner out.  And for clown supplies -- Towner has worn through three pairs of clown shoes, and is looking for a new pair.  It's not easy to find a men's size 23.

Towner also performs a lot of free gigs, especially for children who are cancer victims or survivors.  In the Spring of 1979 his college program director approached Towner about a new camp that would be a great place for Crossroad to perform.  It was Camp Good Days and Special Times, a not-for-profit camp where children who are cancer victims and survivors can go free of charge.  Towner went to a meeting and agreed to be part of it right away.  He ended up participating as a counselor and a lifeguard.  And, of course, as Crossroad.

"It changed my life," Towner says.  "The original logo was just an X figure with a ball on top.  They wanted to change that, and I'm proud to say that the Camp Good Days logo is based on my character.  Through Camp Good Days I was able to go to every hospital in Upstate New York.  I went every Friday.  I started in the pediatric oncology sections, but then other people would want to see me.  When you get back you feel pretty darn good.  That's the clincher -- doing something good for people."

Surprisingly Crossroad performs at weddings, anniversaries and funerals as well as carnivals, hospitals and kids parties.  

"I was asked to perform for a young lady who passed away in Cortland," he recalls.  "She was a Camp Good Days camper and she knew me as Crossroad.  So when she died her mother and father and sisters wanted me to come as Crossroad.  It was a little daunting, but when I came in her two sisters brought me up to the casket.  It was a celebration and it was very moving."

Towner also likes to pass the craft to new generations.  He occassionally does makeup demonstrations, and teaches his own courses called Crossroad Basic Clownology Course 101 and 102.  101 is a ten week course that covers history, makeup, costuming, juggling, balloons, humor, ethics, humor therapy, three 'find yourself' classes, and ends with a performance.  102 is a clown graduate self study.

In 1990 the movie 'Stephen King's IT' hit the popular culture, introducing a horrific, sadistic 'Pennywise the Dancing Clown'.  That movie was introduced the idea of the scary clown, and it was a very scary clown.  But Towner says that while some kids are just naturally afraid of costumed characters, he doesn't think the 'scary clown' sub-current has impacted people's acceptance of Crossroad.  He says people will mention 'It' or The Simpsons' Crusty The Clown, but it never impacted his clowning business.  

"If I go to a gig and there are ten kids in the room, one of them is going to be scared at some level," he says.  "It's been as extreme as having to pull them from the room or leave the house, to the kid that just sits in the back and looks at you.  Usually those kids will be won over because they see that the other kids aren't scared.

"And there's always one kid who is on your lap or in your pockets and they want to know everything.  And there's the mean kid that wants to hit you with something.  And there's the cute little kid who just likes to look, and everybody else falls in between.  Adults are the same way.  There are adults who know Frank, but if I'm in a clown suit they won't come near me."

He notes that people try to draw him out when he is Crossroad.  They'll ask his real name or want to know what it is like to be a clown.  But Towner is adamant about staying in character.  He recalls one gig where several clowns were hired to perform, but were thrilled with the opportunity to talk to other clowns.

"They start to congregate," he says.  "Hey that's a nice suit. Where'd you get those shoes?  How'd you make that mop?  Nice nose.  But hello... we can talk about this later.  We're here to perform.  So I don't do a lot of 'Frank talking'."


And what about that motorcycle?  Why does a seven-year-old clown ride a Harley?

"It's just a mode of transportation," Towner explains.  "I got my first Harly in '79 and I started clowning in '76.  I had to get to a gig and it was summer, so I rode on a bike."

He does say there's a unique technique to shifting the Harley while wearing clown shoes.  And not all motorcycle helmets fit over a clown wig.  But Crossroad's entrance on a motorcycle has become part of the schtick.


Schtick is the part Towner really loves.  Sometimes Crossroad will just show up with his juggling clubs and horn.  He says the horn is a versatile prop that can be a hat, a golf club, a drinking cup, a monocular... all kinds of silly things.  And he notes that chairs are great for physical humor, especially folding chairs.  While he does make balloon animals, he prefers the schtick.

"People love balloons, but it takes a lot more effort to do them," he says.  "There's a whole line of people and it takes the clowning out of it because they just want a balloon.  And you can see parents are waiting... hurry up, clown, my kid wants a balloon."

It's a lot like waiting your turn to sit on Santa Clause's lap and get to talk to him -- which Towner also does every year.  His other costumed characters include Santa, the Easter Bunny, Batman and a Ninja.  But Crossroad is his favorite.

"It's a labor of love," he says.  "I like what I do for other people and I like what that does for me."

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