One year the local Craig newspaper had a contest. The paper was called
"Craig Daily Press" and still prints today. My best friend Andy and I would faithfully play the contest every week. It required a little bit of leg work, but two bored kids in small town USA were up for the task.
The newspaper would include semi-hidden clues within the advertisement's inside the newspaper. The clue would be some little phrase that obviously was not part of the original ad. The reader, or contest players, had to find all the little clues and fill out the contest sheet and then take it to one of merchants located in town and drop off the entry. There was one contest per week, but you could put an entry at each participating business.
Andy and I faithfully played the game. We would find all the clues, fill out the form and then ride our bikes all over town to each of the merchants and drop an entry into each of the boxes. There was one at
Cook Chevrolet, and one at Coast to Coast. I can't remember them all, but we made the rounds and we never missed a week
Finally our diligence paid off and I won the contest one week. I won $80 in merchant bucks. I didn't get $80 cash, but I got $80 worth of vouchers that could be used at participating merchants in town. My poor single mother, God bless her, would not let me just spend the money on whatever I wanted. She insisted that I buy some useful stuff with my bounty. I remember we went and bought some clothes at the town Department Store. Perhaps at Hesteads. I remember we bought some clothes at a store on Yampa Avenue in downtown Craig. Funny, I can't remember what I bought with that money except for 2 shirts. One a yellow gold striped shirt, and the other a blue striped shirt. I was wearing one of those shirts in one of my elementary school class photo's. I can't remember any toys or fun stuff I got. All I can recall is the shirts.
Eighty dollars was a lot of money in those days. And for a 10 year old boy it was a fortune. I think about it now, and I should have probably split it with Andy since we both worked on the weekly entry's as a team. Not sure why I didn't. Sorry Andy. I got my picture in the paper too. The headline read: "Poor kid makes it big!" Not really, but it was the truth.
I remember on Sundays the Denver Sunday paper was available. Not sure it was the Rocky Mountain News of the Denver Post. Of course in those days, the little town closed up on Sundays. But people could get the paper in front of the Palace Drug Store on the corner of Yampa Avenue and Victory Way. The store was closed, and they didn't have newspaper machines like now days. The papers were just sitting on the sidewalk under the awning with a weight on them. Next to the papers was a coffee can. People would grab a paper and put their money for the paper in the coffee can. People were honest in those days I guess, cause that is how we got the Sunday paper when we were in Craig. I remember getting marshmallow sundae's at the Palace Drug too. That was a real treat. The Palace was one of those old fashioned drug stores with a refreshment counter inside. I guess they weren't old fashioned then...it was normal. Anyway, it was a real treat to go get a marshmallow Sundae. Maybe that's where the rest of my $80 went?!
Here I am wearing one of the shirts I bought with my big winnings.
Look at that mop...and those ears...and those big teeth...and all those freckles...and...
