Yesterday in La Crosse
One decade wasn’t enough for Mayor Pat, 34 years ago
Around Christmastime of 1984, La Crosse Mayor Pat Zielke launched another re-election campaign, finishing up 10 years in the 6th floor office at City Hall. Zielke said he was hoping to get a new hotel built downtown, in place of the vacant Sawyer Auditorium on Vine Street.
Municipal Judge John Perlich was interested in moving from City Hall to the courthouse next door. The county was expanding its courts to include a 4th circuit. Perlich won the April election for that new court.
It was the first Christmas without Doerflinger’s in La Crosse. The department store at 4th and Main had closed in May of ’84, after 103 years in business.
Viterbo hosted a Christmas show featuring ventriloquist Shari Lewis and her most popular puppet, Lamb Chop.
And high on the record charts that holiday was “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go,” by Wham! In 1984, yesterday in La Crosse.