Iconic NJ Circus Drive-In clown face found in bad condition

Remember when the Circus Drive-In in Wall Township closed down?

That was bad enough for the locals and tourists for whom this legendary restaurant had become a part of their life. But no one wanted to see the iconic clown face sign demolished too.

In August 2021, the clown face came down, but carefully, gingerly, with love. That love seems to have been all used up.

You see at first Wall Township promised to preserve the sign and find a permanent home for it where it could be displayed as part of the town’s history. But a story on NJ.com says the sign was found behind a building on property owned by the township and it was not covered by a tarp and was in pretty rough shape.

This discovery was made by township residents at Camp Evans.

It used to be an army base and the 12-foot clown face was found out in the open, not stored inside any building, and looking like it was once covered by a tarp that had long since been dislodged exposing the sign to harsh elements.

When called out on it the township basically promised to do better and said it’s actually close to having a permanent home for the sign. No details were offered, however.

This reminds me of the similar storage plight with Tillie the iconic smiling face that represented Asbury Park. The original was taken down 20 years ago and never found a home and has been haphazardly stored at best and found to be in a greatly deteriorated state.

Maybe we ought to just let these things die. But when you love New Jersey that just feels wrong.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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