Yesterday in La Crosse
If you couldn’t get away from disco, you could still learn how to dance to it, in 1979
In the fall of ’79, Michael’s Cerise on Ward Avenue was advertising that customers could “learn how to disco in 3 lessons.” The lessons in the Terpsichore Cocktail Lounge at the Cerise were taught by qualified teachers from the Marilyn School of Dance.
Even though disco was king at the time, there was still room for folk music. The Kingston Trio was performing its famous brand of folk in La Crosse at the Ramada on French Island, now the Days Inn. The Sawyer Auditorium downtown brought in the Lettermen…and “Hee Haw” star Buck Owens performed at Viterbo.
Pope John Paul the 2nd toured the U.S. in October of ’79, and led a huge outdoor mass at the Living History Farms near Des Moines. La Crosse’s Bishop Frederick Freking and Bishop John Paul traveled to Iowa to see the pope…39 years ago, yesterday in La Crosse.