The first carnival ever held in Denver Harbor was in either 1946 or 1947. I know it was after 1945 and WW11 because during the war things were pretty tough and sad. Everything seemed to be rationed, waiting in line to buy meat, no candy, bubblegum, not much of anything. Everything went to our troops overseas but I didn't understand the significance of what was really going on.

The carnival was held in the field which later became Weingarten's (now Fiesta). It was just a big open lot and they drove the trucks loaded with all the equipment through the weeds and set everything up almost overnight.

I had never been to a carnival, but Dad used to talk about his brother Roy and his boxing exhibitions so I would imagine he had been to quite a few. All the kids were excited about the rides, the ferris wheel, tilt-a-whirl, merry go round and other rides that looked pretty scary to me. Anyway that Friday night Dad came home and we did our weekly ritual of going to Mikeska's grocery to cash a check, pay our bill and then go to Burt's for our weekly shopping. Only this time Dad didn't turn left off Shotwell, but went straight ahead to the carnival!!

This was not Dad's style. He was so used to doing the same thing over and over, every week, every day. When we got there he also did something out of character for him. He reached in his wallet and gave each of us one dollar!! The rides were, I think, 10 for a dollar so you really got your money's worth. He told us to go and ride the rides while he and mom were going to check out the games, those games where you throw a ball and knock off a doll on a stand, or pitch rings over the top of coke bottles, or shoot a BB gun at the ducks that went round and round. What we didn't know was most of the games were almost impossible to win, but everybody wanted to win a doll for their date or wife. It was a powerful attraction.

(My brother) Harold and I rode everything there and I fell in love with all the action, the cotton candy, the peanuts, the sounds of kids screaming on the rides. When we ran out of tickets we we went to find mom and dad. There they were at a booth where you throw baseballs at these row of stuffed dolls. The object of the game was to knock at least three completely of the table. The trouble was everyone could only knock off two, the third was almost impossible. There was Dad, throwing his arm off trying to win mom a bright, shiny clock that was a horse standing on his back legs with a cowboy waving his hat. Sort of like Roy Rogers but Dad could never get that third doll off the table.

As time went on mom got real anxious. He was literally throwing away his paycheck and getting madder and madder. I had seen Dad mad before, but there was this desperate look on his face. He wanted that darn clock which was probably worth about $4.00 and he was running out of money doing it. Finally mom started to cry and we headed home. I have never seen Dad drive that 33 Chevy that fast down Shotwell. When we got home he sat in the car for about a minute and then pulled out of the driveway saying the game was rigged, that third doll wouldn't fall off and he was going to get his money back.

Actually the game was rigged. It's hard to explain but these dolls had a wood base that extended about an inch around the base of the doll. When it came time for someone to try for that third doll all the operator had to do was slide the doll forward under the lip of the stand. You couldn't knock the doll off the stand with a cannon when they were positioned that way. When we got there dad started to complain and soon a large crowd gathered to hear the argument. Mom was embarrased and I was afraid dad would end up in a fight. After all, he had lost almost his entire paycheck. Finally the carnival owner come over and tried to explain it was a fair game and dad just had a run of bad luck. Dad wouldn't listen.

Then we got lucky. One of the bystanders was Mr. Kelly, a police officer who lived two houses down from the Miller's. He had been watching the game and said something didn't seem right to him either. He had his uniform on and was about to check the game out when the owner stopped him and got dad and Mr. Kelly aside and started to apologize. He offered to give dad all his money back along with that clock!! He knew the game was rigged and shut it down. Dad had won!! Got his money, the doll, but no groceries. By then Burt's was closed so we ate tuna fish sandwiches instead of salmon patties and fried potatoes. I think Dad gave Mr. Kelly some money. The game was shut down for the remainder of the carnival.

After that every year when the carnival came to Denver Harbor I thought about that night. I saw dad mad, frustrated, and helpless. But things turned out okay except we never went to another carnival except to ride the rides. The sad thing about it all is that even today carnivals are known to be notorious for the con artists and crooked games. Things haven't changed much in 50 years!!