Merrily (Agard) Johnston can be seen clowning around all over Casper. She's mostly known for her extraordinary face-painting abilities, so it's no surprise she brought home the gold medal last week from a clown competition in Niagara Falls.

Unlike other face-painting competitions, this one required participants to bring their own paint, but no tools.

"All we knew is that we would be given a bag of items to paint with" says Merrily, whose winning piece was a zombie.

She used a spoon to paint the nostrils, a rock for the teeth, and a Q-tip to highlight the brains. "It was really fun."

She also tied for first place doing a skit and took home bronze for her "paradability," after she fashioned a balloon car whose door was "ajar."

This was not Merrily's first competition, but probably the furthest she's traveled to compete in so far.

A Clown was Born

Merrily was the second child of seven. Three brothers and three sisters. She remembers that she was always an attention seeker. Thinking back, she says that might be where it all started.

That's one of the reasons why Merrily feels it is important to make every child feel loved, beautiful, important, and seen. When a child gets their face painted, it's all about them for that moment.

Merrily's formal clown training began in 1997, but she remembers being obsessed with balloon animals long before then. After so much waiting around in lines she decided she'd learn to make them herself. And so she became the young protégée of another clown.

Around 2001 Merrily partnered with Angel Ocasio, who was trained by the Ringling Brothers, and learned much. "I absorbed everything like a sponge" says Merrily. Further, she won an Editor's Choice award for her articles published in Calliope, a colorful magazine that goes out six times a year to members of the Clowns of America International Association (COIA).

A Lifelong Passion

Merrily and her husband, a Casper boy, moved to Wyoming in 2017. She moved her business -- Merrily-Go-Round-Entertainment -- and became a one woman show.

"Where I've lived in the past I always had people to call to help out and work with. I knew a lot of other clowns, but here I haven't found that person yet."

She does, to note, have people who help her with face painting, but she's a stand-out at community gatherings, celebrations, concerts, and the like.

You can usually spot her in pants and a vest with an exaggerated smile painted around her authentic one. She has swapped out uncomfortable giant clown shoes for rainbow sneakers and traded the wig for pigtails and ribbons.

"Truthfully my biggest role is to make people feel loved" shares Merrily. "A second is laughter and making people feel happy. Making people forget what is going in their lives for a few minutes, take them back to childhood even."

Merrily is more than a clown. She's a mother to three children. Her grandchildren greet her with "balloon!" or "facepaint" before saying hello. She performs magic at libraries and senior centers. But even when the clown costume comes off, she still tries to be a ray of sunshine for others. "I try to continue to grow in that area. For instance, every morning I write in a gratitude journal; I read 20 minutes of a good self-help type book. It's a huge part of who I am."

I ask her if she's thought about retiring some day: "I plan to be a clown up until the very end. I love it so much. I may slow don't a little bit, but I'll never stop."

You can catch Merrily every Wednesday from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. doing free balloons and facepaint. She'll also be at NIC Fest and plenty of other fun summer events coming up soon!