At the tender age of five I attended my first Halloween carnival at the little country school. Weeks earlier, my first grade teacher, Mrs Harmon, explained to us that my class would be competing against the second, third, and fourth grade classes to see which class could raise the most money for the school. Each class was to select a boy and a girl to represent them in a pageant on carnival night for the titles of "Prince" and "Princess". Representatives of the class that raised the most money were to be crowned. For junior high the titles were "Duke" and "Duchess" and for high school "King" and "Queen".
In those days you could buy two bottles of chocolate (or white) milk for a nickel. The milk came in small glass bottles with a paper tab-like lid..I still remember how good they were. This would be about the only spending money most of us had and that wasn't every day! Many times I shared a bottle with a buddy or they with me, but, during the Halloween season our milk money was spent on things like wax lips and candy cigarettes. Our teachers would order boxes of novelty candies for us to buy and sell before, during, and after school. At a penny each, we thought we were really getting a bargain. Made of red wax, the lips would be worn by each kid for a while, then chewed like gum until all sweetness was gone. How cool did we look with a candy cigarette sticking out of our mouths...just like dad! As the days passed by leading up to the carnival, we hawked all sorts of penny candies, home made brownies and rice crispy treats, grab bags, and of course, raffle tickets on some super-wonderful prize that would be drawn for and given away that night. It was very exciting for us to compete with the other grades and we were so proud of the amount of money that we had worked so hard to raise. Would it be enough for our class to win?
Finally the night of the carnival arrived. The little school that housed grades one through twelve would be jam packed with a mass of humanity. Everyone in our school community would be there along with many visitors from surrounding schools and the small towns. In every room, desks and tables would be moved and stacked in one corner in order to make room for the class's booth. Doors and windows were decorated and the rooms were transformed into haunted houses or game rooms. Prizes and confections had been provided and collected during the week prior to the carnival and word always got out as to which class had the best prizes to give away. In the latter years, a dunking booth would be set up on the school yard. This was always a big draw as all the kids wanted the pleasure of dunking their principal, their teacher, or their coach. Yep!...this ol coach put in his time!
After taking their children around to see what each class was doing with their rooms, the adults would drift to the school's auditorium to sit and visit with each other or to participate in the PTA cake walk held on the stage. Mr. Dale would always command the only microphone and he would give the name of the lady who baked the cake while holding it up for all to see. After the allotted time, cakes that had not been won in the cake walk would be simply auctioned off. Mr Dale could make one of those cakes sound so scrumptious that people just had to buy it whether they wanted it or not!
Once the allotted time was up, the rooms were closed and all money was counted. While this took place, all the raffle items were drawn for in the auditorium. Sometimes a local country band would perform a few songs to fill in time or the people would simply sit and wait. There was no hurry. People enjoyed each other's company.
Once the money was counted, the candidates for Prince and Princess took the stage. It was not uncommon for the "Princess" of the couple to be head and shoulders taller than her "Prince", but, it didn't matter for they were dressed with the finest little suits and dresses of the day reminiscent of the band performance in "The Music Man". Parents were so proud of their prince or princess. The height problem could easily be solved during the picture taking session with a box for the shorter Prince to stand upon.
I don't remember my class winning until we were seniors in high school (seniors always had an advantage it seems). Other classes ahead or behind us had superior numbers and therefore had more avenues to raise money (that's my story and I'm stickin to it!). The amounts of money raised for the school varied from year to year until the last carnival before the school was consolidated. Somewhere around $12,000 was raised at the final carnival as I recall. This was a tremendous amount for a small rural school with an enrollment around 250 students grades 1-12.
I attended the carnivals as a student and helped put them on as a teacher over a period of about 40 years. It was a grand time each year. Romances budded or wilted, pecking orders were established or changed, old friendships were renewed, children wore themselves out, and a great sense of pride filled the hearts of everyone involved. Ahhh....the memories of good times together!
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