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Are Creepy Clowns Hurting the Clown Business?

EAST STROUDSBURG — With all the negative attention clowns are getting this year, we wondered are those who clown around professionally seeing any backlash...

EAST STROUDSBURG -- With all the negative attention clowns are getting this year, we wondered are those who clown around professionally seeing any backlash?

Mark Clark runs Aardvark Entertainment, a business in East Stroudsburg.

Friends and family know him as Mark Clark but fans of his work know him as "Happy Jack," a professional clown.

"I have been doing this for 42 years," said Clark. "At 16 years old, I started at Great Adventure when they first opened the doors and I have been performing ever since."

So with all the negative attention surrounding clowns lately, is his business hurting?

Clark says no. It's just a craze fueled by social media.

"People say there are clowns and will show pictures of clowns and post them on media and stuff like that. Well, that's just very convenient that they happen to have a camera there and, I think it was a setup."

Some people throughout the area feel the same way.

Guy Lestician from East Stroudsburg thinks the newfound trend is a bit ridiculous.

"I think it's crazy and you better watch the people with the guns, really, it's a little out of hand."

Clown costumes have always been popular so you never know when people are going to come in to buy them. Shop owners tell us if more people come in to buy than usual, that's when they will keep a better eye out.

"I think it's kind of funny in a way, but as long as they aren't hurting anyone that's the main thing, but other than that, people are going to do all kinds of crazy things, but as long as they don't hurt anyone, I think it's kind of comical in a way," said Bill Frazetta, Frazetta's Costumes owner.

While there have been some creepy clown sightings in the Monroe County area posted to social media, no arrests have been made.

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