Uncle Chris the Clown has been entertaining families in the BC Interior for 25 years.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Uncle Chris the Clown

Families across the southern Interior might be familiar with Uncle Chris the Clown, and that's because he has been clowning around for a quarter of a century.

Uncle Chris has delighted families at arts festivals, fairs and farmers' markets in Kamloops, the Shuswap and Okanagan and is a very famous clown.

“It feels great, it’s surprising because I became a clown on a whim and 25 years later I’m still loving it,” Chris Wlodartzyk said.

Wlodartzyk was drawn to magic as a child and first started doing magic tricks in elementary school.

“My teacher did magic tricks and we started a club. Back then it wasn’t cool so when I got a bit older, I stopped doing it, but I always loved it.”

He later learned to tie balloons when he worked his first job at a MacDonalds and was hosting birthday parties there.

“It was the old days, I went to the library and got a book on how to make balloon animals and taught myself,” Wlodartzyk said. “I had the magic, the balloon tying skills, the big feet and rosy cheeks, I was practically born a clown.”

This photo shows Kamloops's Uncle Chris the Clown at his first gig as a clown at a birthday party in 1998.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Uncle Chris the Clown

In 1998, Wlodartzyk was living in Merritt and decided to try doing magic at birthday parties. After having a successful gig, he took on the clown role, donning a big red nose and his signature yellow framed glasses, and has been doing it ever since.

“I was nervous the first time, I thought this is going to be crazy, but I went in and did the part and it was great.”

He recently came across a photo of that first gig and posted it on social media in hopes the photo could be replicated and he's connected with some of the now grown-up kids in the photo and there's a plan to get a reunion photo taken.

These days Uncle Chris the Clown is entertaining the children of the children he once entertained.

“People call and say come to my kid’s birthday party because you came to mine,” he said. “It’s a great feeling but it also makes me feel old. Some parents tell me their kids have grown up with me and actually think I’m their uncle.”

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Despite his many years of entertaining, Wlodartzyk still has the same bag of tricks that continue to amuse the young people. He has a famous colouring book trick where kids appear to colour a book tracing their fingers in the air, a floating bowling ball trick and bunny rabbit trick where the rabbit appears to change colours.

“The older kids yell out to do the tricks they love and want to see them again and again while the younger ones are watching them for the first time,” he said. “I add new things here and there but what I know best is the old ones.”

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Wlodartzyk is partly known for his wild costumes, that change regularly as they get worn out. He said friends and family design and donate silly clothes and costumes so he never runs out.

Uncle Chris the Clown has a packed schedule of events to perform at this spring and summer. He isn’t sure how he will celebrate his 25 year of clowning around yet.

When asked if he plans on clowning for another quarter century, Wlodartzyk said he has to think about it.

“It’s hard to say, I have the best job in the world,” he said. “In what other job do kids come up and give you hugs? I can’t see myself retiring, I’m too much of a big kid at heart.”

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