On the morning of Thursday 13 October, morning peak hour commuters will be rubbing their eyes and shaking their heads as hordes of clowns pop up around the city to spread a bit of Christmas cheer and offer the chance to enter a once-in-a-lifetime competition!

Exactly 30 sleeps from Pageant Day, the clowns – all volunteers from the four sponsoring credit unions – will be jumping on public transport and handing out competition postcards with the chance to win one of six spots as clowns in this year’s Credit Union Christmas Pageant.

By answering in 25-words or less, ‘What makes you happy?’ you’ll be in the running to clown around on Pageant Day on the Ye Olde Pageant Tram. The competition is open until 31 October and can be entered by filling out the competition postcard and returning it to a credit union branch. Alternatively, complete the online form.

And you never know who the clown in front of you might be. For the first time in the credit unions’ 15-year sponsorship of the Pageant, the CEOs of the four credit unions (People’s Choice, Community CPS Australia, Police Credit Union and Credit Union SA) will also be clowns in the event. It’s quite fitting given the theme of this year’s Credit Union Christmas Pageant is celebrate the clown within.

There will be a total of 250 clowns in the Credit Union Christmas Pageant this year, all of which must attend a mandatory clown school session.

The 2011 Credit Union Christmas Pageant is on Saturday, 12 November.