fbpx
Connect with us

Yesterday in La Crosse

“Goofy Golf” was a fun summer attraction, 59 years ago, Yesterday in La Crosse

Published

on

In the summer of 1961, the Country Fair Amusement Park was located at Avon and Monitor Streets.  On Wednesday nights, the whole family could play miniature “goofy golf” for just a dollar.  Country Fair offered prizes for low golf scores.  For example, free root beer floats from Vi’s Drive In on South Avenue.  Or box seats to a major league baseball game, featuring the Braves or the new team in the Midwest, the Minnesota Twins.  And they didn’t just have golf, but also featured a batting cage and trampolines.   

Miss La Crosse was getting ready to compete for the Miss Wisconsin title, and a chance to go to the Miss America pageant.  Karen Odbert was the local title holder in ’61, an employee of WKBH Radio and Channel 8.  A newspaper feature showed Odbert posing in a swimsuit…also seeing the new State Office Building…and speaking to the all-male La Crosse City Council.  She wasn’t known as Miss La Crosse Oktoberfest, because the fest didn’t exist until October of that year.  

A girl named Diana Spencer was born in England on July 1st of 1961. Twenty years later, in July of ’81, Lady Diana married Prince Charles and became the Princess of Wales.

Comedian Carl Reiner had a pretty good year in 1961. He and Mel Brooks had recorded two hit comedy albums of historical humor. Reiner was an interviewer, and Brooks was “The 2000 Year Old Man.” Reiner wrote a TV comedy show for himself to star in, called “Head of the Family,” based on his experiences writing for Sid Caesar. The show didn’t sell, but Reiner tried again, recasting the lead role of Rob Petrie with a guy named Van Dyke. “The Dick Van Dyke Show” debuted in 1961, and the rest is history.

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.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *