When Betsy Kemper is working behind the counter at a Westlake-area boutique, she said she often recognizes the customers who enter, though they might not recognize her. After more than two decades of performing at local birthday parties and civic events as Doodlebug the Clown, Kemper said she has seen a generation of Austin children grow up.
“People don’t always realize I’m Doodlebug,” Kemper said. “They’ve seen me as someone else, not as [Betsy].”
Kemper said as one of the first female clowns in Austin, she started entertaining as Doodlebug at children’s birthday parties in 1993. She said when she started, most other clowns were working with companies or circuses but she was one of the first individual clowns.
“I was underemployed and wanted to be self-employed,” she said. “I’m from a family of entrepreneurs. I already loved arts and crafts, and being a clown let me combine all the things I loved.”
