Having fun at the Fest…52 years ago

Just before the 1966 Oktoberfest, a cartoon in the Tribune asked “How’s this for an image?”  The cartoon promoted the six-year-old festival as a time for fun, joviality, friendship, and non-violence.  But disturbances did occur during that fest weekend, with a near-riot which led to almost 200 arrests, and to a long-standing city rule banning public consumption of alcohol on the streets of La Crosse.

During Oktoberfest, you could fly over the La Crosse area just for fun.  North Central Airlines offered scenic flights for just $3.15, and a Fest button.  The tour plane carried 44 passengers for a 20-minute flight.

The La Crosse State campus paper, the “Racquet,” complained that the college was short of parking spaces.  Most of the streets around the school did not allow parking, or had a one-hour limit, which the Racquet said led to “one large headache.” 

Two songs reached #1 on the charts in January of 1966…”The Sound of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel, and “We Can Work It Out” by the Beatles.  Two members of the Sinatra family had chart-toppers that year.  Nancy Sinatra’s hit was “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'” and her dad Frank sang “Strangers in the Night.”  Doody-doobie-doo, 52 years ago, yesterday in La Crosse.