PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. — The first thing you notice about Fat Smitty's is the chainsaw art outside.
The second thing you notice — are the dollar bills inside.
They cover every surface of this Olympic Peninsula burger joint.
"Well this is nothing but a big donation fund," owner Casey Carson said. "We've been doing it for almost 25 years and every five years we take the dollar bills off that customers leave us and we give it to charity.”
The bills began appearing in the '90s when a traveling salesman stuck his card and a dollar on the ceiling.
"This is where it all started, never been able to find the original dollar bill,” Carson said gesturing to the ceiling near where the burgers get handed from kitchen to dining room. The bills there are so old they crumble. But that one dollar led to thousands more.
"As it grew, people started writing on them, making notes," Carson said. "There's a lot of stories.”
The restaurant's original owner, Carl Schmidt, also known as Fat Smitty — that's his likeness carved by chainsaw out front — decided to take down the bills every five years and give them to a charity.
Fat Smitty, a Marine veteran, passed away in 2018. This is the first time they'll take down the bills without his help. So current owner Carson, also a Marine vet, called in the troops.
“We're gonna have some Navy personnel and Marine Corps personnel from sub-base Bangor, he said. "They're going to come in, we're gonna feed them and they're going to earn their meal today because it's probably gonna take a good six or seven hours to clean the walls off.”
These bills will be donated to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, whose representatives were stunned when they walked in and saw the bills they would soon be harvesting:
“Oh my gosh! It's incredible," Kathy Phillips, Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society’s director said. "You can't even imagine it until you're in the place and taking it all in.”
The troops fuel up on Smitty Burgers, which are gigantic affairs involving two slabs of beef, lots of bacon, plenty of cheese, and many napkins. Then they get to work.
Every single bill represents a customer. And a connection. Carson gets emotional talking about the cash for a cause folks leave on his walls.
"It's pretty cool. Not very many people get to donate like this.”
After five hours the last bills come down. The final count? $24,984 to help Navy and Marine families in need.
Fat Smitty's walls are now bare — ready for customers to fill with bills again. And in five years when it’s time to take it all down and give it away, the diner's namesake will still be standing tall out front, and proud that his place is still doing good — one dollar at a time.
“I'm sure he is," smiled Carson. "This is the first time he hasn't been here so yeah, we kept going and will continue to do it."
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