PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Late Saturday morning, more than 20 Anah Temple Shrine clowns and members of the Aroostook Shrine Club gathered at the Presque Isle Rehab and Nursing Center to visit, at a safe distance, with folks isolated due to COVID-19 social distancing measures.
The clowns spent much of their day traveling to neighborhoods in Presque Isle as a much smaller but still memorable substitute for the canceled Anah Shrine Circus.
They began by waving to residents at the Rehab and Nursing Center and the adjacent Leisure Gardens and Leisure Village apartments. Throughout the afternoon they drove around 20 miles through various neighborhoods, waving to people from their cars.
Event organizer Daniel Chute, a.k.a, “Shred the Clown,” said that the clowns felt inspired to remind people of the need to connect with one another even during limited contact and an uncertain future.
“We want to remind everyone that we’re in this together and that there’s plenty of joy to be had, even in uncertain times,” Chute said.
Chute noted that the clowns hope to visit communities outside Presque Isle in the near future.
“We certainly want to visit as many communities as we possibly can,” Chute said. “All of us have, at our core, a desire to be a positive force in our communities. We feel this is most critical right now.”
