Outdoors

American Melody marks start of big-boat season on La Crosse riverfront

Published

3 weeks ago

June 15, 2025

The big boats are back in La Crosse for another tourism season.

Sunday marked the first visit during 2025 for the American Cruise Lines boats, as the American Melody docked at Riverside Park for most of the day. The Melody won’t be back in La Crosse again until Labor Day weekend.

However, the next boat to come to the city is scheduled to be the Viking Mississippi, on the 3rd of July during Riverfest. Twenty-two stops in all are planned by the riverboat companies between now and the end of October, with Viking accounting for 10 of those visits.

The American Melody will make five more stops in La Crosse this year, with the American Serenade coming to town six times, and the American Heritage stopping once in mid-September.

The majority of the 22 cruise stops this season will happen after the 1st of August, and continue into October.

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.