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Yesterday in La Crosse

Do you fondue? K-Mart shoppers got a lesson, 52 years ago

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In 1967, K-Mart in La Crosse was selling beef, with the help of some cheesecake.  A group of young ladies called the ‘Miss U-S Choice Girls’ was going to appear at the State Road store, to serve customers samples of beef fondue.  In a newspaper ad, K-Mart had to explain what ‘fondue’ was–a Swiss method of cooking bites of meat in boiling peanut oil for 10 seconds, and then dipping the meat in a sauce.  Fondue apparently had not caught on in America until the 1964 World’s Fair.   

The Genoa nuclear reactor was nearing completion, along Highway 35.  Dairyland Power had just hired a project engineer for the new electric plant being built by Allis-Chalmers for the Atomic Energy Commission.  

On TV each week, ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ would open with its theme song, often including a verse mentioning the sponsor.  Kellogg’s cereal was one sponsor, and Winston cigarettes was another, but Winston stopped sponsoring ‘Hillbillies’ in ’67, because of a tobacco industry rule that cigarettes could not be sold on a show where nearly half the viewers were under 20 years old.  Swimmin’ pools and movie stars, but no tobacco in 1967, yesterday in La Crosse.

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.

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