Cheesman Park in Denver

Every summer in Denver's Cheesman Park, they put up a stage and did a Broadway musical.  It was free, and you sat on the grass to watch.  In order to get a good place, my parents would pack lunch and dinner and we would go down in the morning.  All day we would run around and goof off while our mom and dad stayed on the blanket holding our spot.  The musicals I remember seeing were "The King and I," "South Pacific," "The Sound of Music," and "My Fair Lady." This was in the 60s, so these were pretty big back then.  They had some professional actors for the big parts, and local talent for the rest of the cast.  The year we saw "South Pacific" it rained, and I remember my sister Mary and I laughing hysterically about the song, "I'm gonna wash that man right out of my hair," being sung in the rain.  When the rain stopped, they mopped off the stage and just started where they left off.  A bunch of people had left, so we moved up closer to the front and stayed and watched the rest.  The year I was 17 we went with another family from Wisconsin whose dad was also going to school out there. They had a daughter my age (Becky), a daughter Mary's age (Nancy) and another daughter closer to our little brother Brian's age (Barbara).  I did a lot with Becky, who was my age, but frequently it was the four older kids hanging out together.  Teens with too much time on their hands can get in trouble, and that year I remember stealing toilet paper out of the bathrooms and using it to toilet paper random cars parked in the streets around the park.  That time no cops saw us.  Yup, I said, THAT time...