The Popcorn Stand: This girl doesn’t clown around

Nadia Hill is a person after my own heart.

Hill, an eighth grader at Eagle Valley Middle School, won the 2018 Discover Your Nevada Essay Contest and as part of her prize she’s going to the Clown Motel in Tonopah.

Can you imagine a game show host telling the winner, “You’ve won an all-expenses paid trip to the Clown Motel in Tonopah, Nevada”

Actually Hill wants to go to the Clown Motel as part of her prize. And actually the Clown Motel has become one of Nevada’s more popular attractions drawing people from all over the world.

My guess is for most people, including myself, visiting the Clown Motel is a must in a lifetime thing but a must only once in a lifetime thing.

I’ve driven through Tonopah but have never stopped to visit the Clown Motel. Someday I must visit it. Staying at the Clown Motel — that’s another matter.

I’ve written before I can take or leave clowns and never understood why dressing up in makeup and wearing incredibly over-sized shoes was supposed to be funny. But with the danger of offending the good folks of Tonopah, the Clown Motel looks pretty creepy and the isolated nature of Tonopah just adds to its mystique.

But Hill plans to stay at the Clown Motel. Her statement about the place also sums up perfectly what’s so special about Nevada.

“It encapsulates all that I love about Nevada.”

Me too, Nadia. Me too.

— Charles Whisnand