Everybody loves a clown; alternate personas allow couple, to cut loose and just try and make people laugh.

Alyse Axford is soft spoken, with long, dark brown hair knotted on top of her head by a feathery white scrunchy.

Zig Zag is a snappy, giggly clown with a crown of electric red hair who is sometimes mischievous and always a hoot.

Axford and Zig Zag have something in common, however--they are the same person. Zig Zag is Axford's clown character, and half of the business venture, Zig Zag and Ragz clown service.

At an early morning Bellingham/ Whatcom Chamber of Commerce & Industry breakfast the cement-colored sky only barely illuminates wet sidewalks while guests wait in line with rain misting their faces. As they approach the door, desperate thoughts of coffee are replaced with a smile as they are greeted at the door by Zig Zag and her partner-in-clowning, Ragz.

Axford discovered clowning in her early twenties, but the stage was set for her vaudevillian career early on. As a child in Pennsylvania, her father offered her the gift of humor and music. He had a mammoth record collection that the family spent weekends listening to. He took her to amusement parks and to ride on big steam engine models. He introduced her to classic comedians like Howdy Doody and Buffalo Bob on TV.

After high school, Axford began studying commercial art at a community college. One day she …