Dueling demonstrations downtown, 41 years ago

One Saturday in February of 1976, two groups picketed quietly on 4th Street, near the La Crosse Post Office.  The group standing directly outside the Post Office wanted to preserve the decades-old building.  Across the street was a second group, including union workers, who were ready to build a new post office on the block, after which the old one would be torn down.  The new post office would open the following year. 
 
After experimenting with early starts to Daylight Saving Time the previous two years, the U.S. went back to the usual date for turning clocks ahead…the last Sunday of April.  There was still talk in Washington of adding a month or two to Daylight Savings, but those attempts failed.  The dates for Daylight Saving would not change again until 1987, when the starting date was moved up to the first Sunday in April.
 
A new local theater group was being launched in La Crosse.  Auditions were announced for a Party House production of the musical “The Apple Tree.”  It would be the first show for the Cabaret Dinner Theater, directed by Tim McNamara.  The group would put on dinner theater shows for almost three years, eventually moving from the Party House off Highway 35 to downtown, at the Hotel Stoddard.  Dinner and a show, 41 years ago, 1976…Yesterday in La Crosse.