I had a buddy back in the hippy days named Bob Latter. He was a short, energetic, long-haired little rascal and his girlfriend began calling him Steplatter. He loved the name, and called his daughter "Steppany", and even purchased a Step Van to drive around in.

Step bought a Clown Costume at a yard sale and immediately put it on to ride home on his Triumph Cycle. He loved the astonished or outraged looks he got, and when he stopped for gasoline, the attendant was a redneck who gawked at him until Latter finally walked up to him, grinned, and said "excuse me, sir. Perhaps you could direct me to the Festival of the Clowns, which is being held somewhere near by?" The guy went in to ask his supervisor about it, and returned to say that this was the first they'd heard of it. Latter replied that it was going to be the largest festival of its kind, and that over 100,000 clowns were expected to attend, and he expected the entire neighborhood would be teeming with clowns camping, hitch-hiking, cooking out etc. Latter got a lot of satisfaction out of misleading straight people in this way.