DAYTON, Iowa—“We live in a world where it is hard to laugh anymore. We need to learn to laugh again,” said Gizmo McCracken about his rodeo comedy act, that will be gracing the arena this year for the annual Dayton Labor Day rodeo. Gizmo will not only work as the clown for the 2021 rodeo, but will also serve as the specialty act.
Gizmo has several different characters he portrays in shows. “The best compliment I get is when a little kid comes up to me after the rodeo and asks me, ‘Which one were you’?” He said that adults like to listen to what he has to say, but kids “wanna see ya.”
Gizmo has been to Dayton several times and has fond memories of the rodeo. “Folks in Dayton are great,” he said. “One year they ran a phone line to my bus so I could work on my other business interests while I was here. Cell phone service is pretty bad in Dayton, but the rodeo folks went out of their way to make sure I could still make calls.”
Gizmo says he works the rodeo from “hello to goodnight.” He has been nominated for the rodeo Comedy Act of the Year many times and won the award in 2017. Gizmo and his family—including a tea cup long-haired chihuahua named Tea Cup—live in Southwest Missouri.
(contributed article and photo, Dayton Rodeo)
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