Yesterday in La Crosse
The bridge was almost done at the end of 1966
As 1966 came to a close, workers were completing construction of the new I-90 bridge at Dresbach. The center span of the bridge had been installed during the fall, and the bridge was scheduled to open to traffic by late ’67.
Oktoberfest in La Crosse marked six years in 1966. A five-day festival, Wednesday through Sunday. Gov. Warren Knowles presided over the opening Tapping of the Golden Keg. Big-name entertainers for the fest included jazz legend Count Basie, and the comedy team of Marty Allen and Steve Rossi.
New Year’s Eve fell on a Saturday night in 1966. If you didn’t go out that night, you could have turned on the TV and watched “Gunsmoke,” “Get Smart,” Lawrence Welk, or the “Hollywood Palace” New Year show hosted by Bing Crosby. On that night, Bing introduced TV audiences to the title song of the new Broadway hit “Cabaret,” with special holiday lyrics including “At 12 o’clock, start celebratin’, Nineteen Sixty-seven’s waitin.'”
