Entertainment

Terry Cowgill announced as 2019 Festmaster

Published

5 years ago

September 26, 2019

Dentist Terry Cowgill and his wife Shelly will reign over the 2019 Oktoberfest as Festmaster and Frau

Oktoberfest starts for another year Thursday and, just in time, the Festmaster was introduced to the public Wednesday night.

Local dentist Terry Cowgill will preside over the 59th annual fest in La Crosse with his ‘frau’ Shelly.

The Cowgills already have experienced Oktoberfest from the royal family point of view.

Their son, Jonah, was 10 years old when he was named the Special Fester in 2010.

For the last two years, Oktoberfest had the Festmaster’s ball a month before the actual festival, but that didn’t work out.

Now, the ball is held the evening before the opening of the fest, so the Festmaster and Frau will be the last members of the royal family to be announced.

Cowgill says he learned about the Festmaster honor back in April, on his wife’s birthday.

Brad Williams

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.