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When the sun rose this morning at 6:58 a.m., it shed its light on one of the weirdest American traditions around: millions of people scrambling for discount deals at big box stores. In Denver, this eerie sight was visible from Target and Best Buy to Bass Pro, Kohl's and Kmart.
And while Black Friday may be fun for shoppers with thick skins, lots of coffee and fat pocketbooks (it may be cheaper than usual, but a flat-screen TV still ain't free), it isn't for the employees who work at the stores or for the miserable news reporters who have to cover it.
I know because I've done my share of Black Friday interviews. For many years as a business reporter, I was dispatched to our consumer cathedrals at 4 a.m. to capture the scene.
So here's to the folks at the Denver Post, the Associated Press, The Gazette in Colorado Springs, KCNC, and elsewhere, who stumbled out of bed on the morning after Thanksgiving to make sure that crazy contingent of our society gets in proper respect.
Keep Westword Free... Since we started Westword, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Denver, and we would like to keep it that way. Offering our readers free access to incisive coverage of local news, food and culture. Producing stories on everything from political scandals to the hottest new bands, with gutsy reporting, stylish writing, and staffers who've won everything from the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi feature-writing award to the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. But with local journalism's existence under siege and advertising revenue setbacks having a larger impact, it is important now more than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" membership program, allowing us to keep covering Denver with no paywalls.
