Join us for History at High Noon: Lawrence Welk - Homegrown Media Megastar on September 18 at 12:05 p.m. at the Sioux City Public Museum. Attendees are welcome to bring their own lunches to enjoy during these free presentations.

Join Russ Gifford as he explores Welk’s path to stardom starting in our backyard, in a blizzard that changed this North Dakota farm boy’s future in unimaginable ways! We will follow his path from North Dakota to Yankton and on through Sioux City!

 Welk was decidedly unhip. Even in the era of big bands, he seemed out of step.

And yet he created a media powerhouse, and while other bandleaders came and went, Welk remained master of his future and ruled his region – and his timeslot – from the 1950s to the 1980s!

 Few really realize just how big Welk became – or how he did it. Yet he moved from doing barn dances in the Midwest to Big City Ballrooms in the space of a decade. He did it by providing his customers with the music they wanted. Then he lured media into thinking he would work for them, yet first radio, and later TV both came to work for Welk! He didn’t sell his services – he created a media company and called his own shots. Yet in doing so, he never turned his back on the people who made him famous. That included not only his fans, but the promoters and the people he worked with.