One of the things that strikes me about Walter is what a booster he was, and clearly from the very beginning. He was always all about promotion. You can see it in their earliest advertisements from the early 1920s. And how interesting to discover (via the one surviving check register) that at the depths of the Depression -- pre-Boysenberry, pre-chicken dinner restaurant -- he still had an advertising agency under contract, and was buying newspaper and radio ads. - Phil Brigandi, 2007.

...they brought in the Birdcage Theater, and they wanted publicity for it, so Russell invited the newspapers and radio stations and invited them to have dinner in the steakhouse. And they could bring a guest. Well, everybody ate and then the reporters got no check... but their guest did get a check. He didn’t understand how those things worked! So, consequently, there wasn’t very much publicity in the opening of the Birdcage Theater. - Dean Davisson, 1998.

From simple text-only adverts in the agricultural section of local papers, to full-bore, slick media campaigns showcasing new attractions; Knott’s has always been cognizant of the power of promotion. The arrival of Public Relations guru Dean Davisson in 1958, however, began an era of publicity and events created to attract the media that was unprecedented. Below are varied examples of print and media advertising and promotion from 1938 - 1987.