Annie Charnley Eveland: Twinkling star Sparkle the Clown to hang up glitter

Aug. 29--From her glittery Mary Jane pump-clad feet and satin puffy-sleeved, poofy skirted dresses to her cotton candy hair, Sparkle the Clown is a vision in shimmering hues of pink, a huggable, kid-friendly, cheery presence who has elicited willing smiles and hugs on the Walla Walla Valley scene for the last 31/2 decades. To steal from crooner Frank Sinatra, just call her "embraceable you."

"We have seen her at many events in our community dressed in full clown attire -- hospitals with sick children, events all over Walla Walla," emailed June Cresci of Walla Walla.

Walla Wallan Cindy Love-Sprengel is behind the whiteface makeup with a pink heart on her nose, pink lips and glistening jewels under her eyes. She's loved interacting with people as Sparkle, she said.

Unfortunately, she must step away from the role for good, she said. Among Sparkle's final appearances will be at the Walla Walla Fair & Frontier Days Parade on Saturday when she will ride in friend Skeeter Gossett's white convertible with her shih tzu Ellie.

Lastly, she will pose with children for farewell to Sparkle photos at Downtown Walla Walla Foundation's Halloween trick-or-treat event. She'll try to reduce her stock of "I hugged a clown today" stickers there with plenty of hugs, she added.

Three years ago she was hit by a speeding vehicle that totaled her car. "If it had hit one foot lower, I would be dead," she said.

As a result, she no longer has the strength in her arms to hold youngsters, who are often given to her for photo opportunities.

"I am fearful of dropping the children and I can no longer bend down to get on eye level with them. As much as I hate to stop doing this -- didn't expect to -- I can't go on," she said.

Close friends have helped her hone a signature look with her costume designs, including Walla Wallans Linda Schab and Lynn Eckles.

Her Cinderella-look ensembles are always pink, sometimes with accent colors, Love-Sprengel said. Those glittery pink pumps she rocks resemble Dorothy's in "The Wizard of Oz." She found her twinkling pink pair in size 5 -- "just my size" -- at a pop-up Halloween shop in Eastgate about 14-15 years ago.

Sparkle's dresses often have puffy sleeves. She always wears white gloves, jewels under her eyes -- sparkles all over, glitter in her hair.

"It's very hot in those layers," Love-Sprengel said.

She always sports fancy jewelry, including rings and a tiara, some that people have given her and some from her late grandmother.

She's attended church programs going into congregations, to parades and other community events. She learned sign language to communicate with children and adults. She's made appearances in Canada, California, Oregon, Idaho and around Washington and been on TV a couple of times.

The petite clown said "It's just been an amazing, amazing adventure."

A seed was planted back in second grade when she lived with her family in a little town in the Mojave Desert.

The very first Ronald McDonald, also known as Catalina Cappy, who had proposed to Love-Sprengel's mom years before, came to town for a clown contest. That clown, Jan Natarno, who also performed as Goo-Goo on stage at Hollywood's old Moulin Rouge, gave Love-Sprengel and her sisters pointers to help them succeed in the contest. Natarno had dated the girls' mother years before, Love-Sprengel said.

The coaching was successful: their youngest sister won the clown contest, Love-Sprengel came in first and their older sister placed second. The prize was a trip to Catalina Island aboard a yacht on which Cappy was the clown.

Along the way, Love-Sprengel has encountered many different kinds of people, including terminally ill or abused children.

About 32-33 years ago, when she worked with clown partner of six years Rosemary McKinnon, they were asked to visit a child named Kimberly, who was on the verge of dying of leukemia. Their trip to Spokane on a Friday was paid so they could visit the Ronald McDonald House. Community stores gave them gifts to take to all the children at the house, Love-Sprengel said.

Kimberly was adamant she wanted to see "her clowns," Love-Sprengel said. The Shriners clowns from Spokane were brought in, but Kimberly only cried, saying repeatedly, "I want my clowns."

Someone must have figured out those clowns were Love-Sprengel and McKinnon. So off they went to Spokane.

"She was so excited and didn't know we were coming," Love-Sprengel said.

The clowns spent a couple of hours with the children before catching a bus home and, still in costume, entertained fellow passengers en route to Walla Walla.

Love-Sprengel said "just being with us, it changed Kimberly's blood count." The child was released and came home that Monday or Tuesday. "It was a miracle, to be honest."

"All sorts of things like that have happened," she said.

She's been around gangs who others are afraid of. "They just want to be hugged," she said.

One such heart-in-throat encounter found Love-Sprengel and gang members walking toward one another in a collision course. The gang leader -- "who must've been 6-foot 8-inches tall, dressed in black, a trenchcoat, tattoos everywhere" -- and she came face to face, halted and he said, "what do you got?"

She said she had stickers reading "I hugged a clown today," her trademark, and he couldn't have one unless she got a hug.

"There was a 20-second stare off, then he said 'OK' and I gave him a hug. It's the neatest hug I've ever gotten, it lasted a long time, you could just feel him melt. He was completely different afterward." Of course he got a sticker.

McKinnon suggested 35 years ago that they dress up as clowns and visit patients. Love-Sprengel worked at the former Walla Walla General Hospital and got the OK from administrator Rod Applegate to give it a trial run on the weekend.

"It was a big, big huge success with patients and staff," she said and they were invited to dress up as often as they wanted and visit patients during their nonworking hours.

Several weeks later her supervisor asked if she would don her costume, at the time a red one with a big red wig, and visit with a patient, an abused child who was in utter hysterics and afraid of everyone else in the hospital.

He would only talk to me," she said. He was in a full cast with broken legs and for about 5-6 weeks she visited him on lunch breaks and weekends, even bringing her kids in to see him.

At that point she realized it wasn't a joke, this clowning around. "It was a ministry the Lord opened the doors for me to do. It changed the whole dynamics of what I was doing. Basically the doors were open for me to walk through."

She decided to take a clown name that could represent who she is as Cindy and as the clown. While visiting with a friend, her friend's lovable dog came into the room.

"As soon as I heard its name, Sparkle, I knew that was me. That's why my hair, face, fabric, shoes, everything sparkles. That was me," Love-Sprengel said.

She chose not to alter her voice because she wanted children to trust her. That way, "they just know a person is there, is real whether in character or not."

It takes her two hours to get ready. "I don't want to ruin the image kids or adults have of me. When they see Sparkle I want them to know I'm the same. It's like when you see Cinderella or another character at Disneyland, they're the same, they don't break character at all."

"It's been an exciting adventure," she said. That includes telling positive stories and doing magic tricks -- sleight of hand -- in appearances at the Walla Walla Balloon Stampede, Walla Walla Fair & Frontier Days parade, the father-daughter Valentine's Day banquets at the Elks Lodge, private parties, various churches, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, the Christian Aid Center and the drug and alcohol rehabilitation center at Walla Walla General Hospital.

And she hands out those "Have you hugged a clown today?" stickers. Lots of stickers. Lots of hugs. At the Walla Walla Balloon Stampede when it was held at Howard-Tietan Park and the Walla Walla County Fairgrounds, she could go through 350-400 stickers in four to five hours. That's 70-100 hugs per hour.

With young children in tow, one mother scoured an event site one year for three hours after she found a sticker from Sparkle that fell off someone else. She succeeded in connecting with Sparkle so her children's first contact with a clown would be the glittering vision in pink.

"Everybody wants a hug, they want to feel valued and have physical touch that's nonthreatening," Love-Sprengel said.

"There isn't anyone who doesn't want to feel special. I've always thought everyone needs a hug, to let people know someone's noticed them. A smile goes a long way to make somebody's day."

Back when she and McKinnon were a team, they became an attractive nuisance at the Walla Walla Balloon Stampede when they got too close to where Ronald McDonald was doing a performance. They drew too many fans away from him.

"We were asked to leave the area by his people," Love-Sprengel recalled.

Her Yorkshire terrier Angel accompanied Sparkle to events until Angel was stolen a few years ago. Love-Sprengel, 61, is a member services associate with Gesa Credit Union. She said her husband, Lew Sprengel, has been a huge supporter of her avocation. When she retires fully she anticipates traveling to places such as Alaska and Australia with him.

Etcetera appears in daily and Sunday editions. Annie Charnley Eveland can be reached at [email protected] or afternoons at 526-8313.

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