Yesterday in La Crosse
Putting the queen first at Oktoberfest, 50 years ago
In April of 1967, La Crosse Festivals, Incorporated decided that the four-day fall celebration that year would open with the Miss Oktoberfest-La Crosse pageant on Wednesday, October 4th. Planners followed the example of other community festivals at which the queen was chosen right away to reign over the entire event. The pageant would take the place of the ‘golden barrel’ tapping as the kickoff event, because the barrel ceremony was being discontinued.
The Netherlands had been ruled by queens since 1890, but that April, the country got its first male heir to the throne in over 100 years. It was expected that the new Dutch prince, named Willem-Alexander, would not get on the throne until the 21st century. And the experts were right. Willem-Alexander was crowned king in 2013, when his mother, Queen Beatrix, stepped down.
The La Crosse Tribune began carrying the comic strip ‘Peanuts’ that month. Charlie Brown and his friends had already appeared on three animated TV specials. In the first daily ‘Peanuts’ strip printed in the Tribune, Lucy got a monthly check from the CIA. Good grief…50 years ago, 1967, Yesterday in La Crosse.
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