Jacki Manna

Children's entertainer Jacki Manna has over 30 years of experience delighting young audiences in Florida — as a birthday party magician, a clown, a face painter, a puppeteer in preschools and a balloon twister for festivals and fairs. A library that hosted her summer reading program praised her skill at bringing puppet characters alive as captivating.

Her act carries real history. Cowboy Eddie, the wooden figure carved in 1910 by the Mack Brothers in Chicago — the same carvers behind Edgar Bergan's Charlie McCarthy — came to her from Howie Olson, the ventriloquist and radio and TV personality who became her mentor in 1989. With over 200 five-star reviews behind her, Jacki keeps children actively doing rather than passively sitting, in shows for birthday parties, preschools, libraries and festivals.