Jake “Sparky” Warnix entertains students at Dawnville Elementary with his dancing as emcee Jason Phillips looks on
photo by Mitch Talley
Students in Ms. Claxton’s pre-k class at Dawnville Elementary greet Hose-A the clown, also known as Wesley Williams of the Whitfield County Fire Department
photo by Mitch Talley
Braylon Elrod (left) and Noel Magana-Prado enjoy a visit with Pluggie, a remote-control fireplug used by the Whitfield County Clown Posse to promote fire safety
photo by Mitch Talley
Hose-A (left, also known as Wesley Williams) and Expert (right, also known as Charles Blair) lead Dawnville Elementary students (from left) Ismael Mendiola, Joselyn Silverio and Emberlynn Carter during the popular “Hat Hat Song.”
photo by Mitch Talley
Edith (left, also known as Natalie Williams) and Hose-A (also known as Wesley Williams) enjoy the “Hat Hat Song” with Dawnville Elementary students Annalise Evans and Ismael Mendiola.
photo by Mitch Talley
Kee-Kee the Clown, also known as Shawn Damon of the Whitfield County Fire Department, points to his “Master Plan” while explaining to students at Dawnville Elementary School how to draw up a fire safety exit strategy.
photo by Mitch Talley
Kee-Kee the Clown (also known as Shawn Damon) goes to his mailbox as Hose-A (also known as Wesley Williams) explains that we do not use the mailbox as a meeting place because it is too close to the road and should use a tree, swingset, neighbor’s house, etc., rather than teach kids to go to the road. Also pictured are (from left) Kyle “Crawl Space” Lawless, Charles “Expert” Blair, Natalie “Edith” Williams, and Brandon “Skeeter” Pewitt.
photo by Mitch Talley
Hands shoot into the air as members of the Clown Posse ask students at Dawnville Elementary how many of them have smoke alarms at their homes
photo by Mitch Talley
The theme for this year’s Clown Posse fire safety is “Not every hero wears a cape. Plan and Practice Your Escape.”
photo by Mitch Talley
Nineteen years in, and the Whitfield County Clown Posse is still making kids laugh while they learn serious fire safety tips that could save their lives.
Ringleader Kee-Kee the Clown, also known as Lt. Shawn Damon of the Whitfield County Fire Department, has been leading the lovable bunch of clowns since the beginning.
This year, he says he’s had a big helping hand from “Hose A,” also known as Lt. Wesley Williams.
“Wesley really took on a lot of responsibility this year,” Lt. Damon said, “and made things a lot nicer for me. He’s changed our sound system, changed our slide/PowerPoint show – it’s all more animated. Really impressive. He’s done a good job. Took care of all the scheduling, spoke with all the principals.”
The 19th annual Clown Posse shows started Oct. 1 at Eastside Elementary, continuing through Oct. 11 with a trip to Beaverdale Elementary, the last of the 13 county schools, aboard the wildly painted Clown Posse school bus.
This year’s theme was “Not every hero wears a cape. Plan and Practice Your Escape.”
The shows again emphasized the importance of smoke alarms, “Stop, Drop and Roll” in case clothing catches on fire, and the EDITH (Exit Drill in the Home) Drill that teaches two ways out of a burning house.
“We’ve always given away graph paper so the kids can draw their exit plans,” Lt. Damon said, “but we’ve never really taught them or told them how to use it. This year, Wesley has actually developed a neat little PowerPoint presentation to kinda give the kids an idea on how to draw out their safety plan.”
Constant change while keeping the basics has been the goal for the Clown Posse for years.
“We’ve got to realize that third grade is the highest grade we go,” Lt. Williams said, “so third graders have already seen our show four times if they started when they’re in pre-K. So you’ve got to keep changing it up to keep them interested.”
This year, students were bombarded with energetic songs as they filed into the gym before a recent show at Dawnville Elementary.
“One of the things we thought about doing this year as far as trying to change the energy of the show is we included all this pre-show music,” Lt. Williams said. “We also pulled some videos off YouTube to show on a big screen to kinda help keep them interested, too. We also have different music as we’re leaving. Years past, we’ve always used ‘Who Let the Dogs Out?’ but today we’ll use ‘YMCA’ when it’s time for them to go before we use ‘Who Let the Dogs Out?’.”
This year’s shows also featured a video honoring the late Battalion Chief John Chester, who was a key part of the Clown Posse as master of ceremonies before he passed away from an aneurysm in 2017.