There he was: Longtime Miss America host Bert Parks took the Oktoberfest stage in 1983
After 10 years, Candyce “Candy” Anderson thought it was time for a new highlight to the Miss La Crosse Oktoberfest pageant.
As co-chair of the pageant, Anderson (who now goes by Candy Del Bello) suggested they pursue longtime Miss America host Bert Parks, who was abruptly let go of his duties a few years earlier, to emcee the 1983 competition.
“I said, ‘Why don’t we see if we can get Bert Parks.’” She called him in his East Coast home. When he answered, Anderson introduced herself, told him she was from La Crosse, Wisconsin, and invited him to emcee the Miss La Crosse Oktoberfest Pageant.
“Right away he said he remembered that La Crosse was the hometown of Joan Engh and that he’d never forget that charming woman,” Anderson recalls. “Then, he asked his wife if it was ok for him to emcee the pageant. And she said yes.”
Engh was named Miss La Crosse, Miss Wisconsin and runner up to 1963 Miss America in 1962. (Prior to 1964, Miss La Crosse and Miss Oktoberfest were separate titles.)
During the Miss America pageant, Engh was named swimsuit competition winner, but had to perform her talent unrehearsed because CBS and the pageant committee deemed her original act as too risqué when she removed her outer clothing to reveal a rhinestone-studded leotard.
And, when announcing the winner, Parks mistakenly gave Engh the Miss America title, before correcting the mistake which gave the crown to Miss Ohio Jacquelyn Jeanne Mayer. Engh returned to La Crosse with a hero’s welcome and weeks later served as the 1962 Maple Leaf Parade Marshal.
When Parks arrived in La Crosse, Anderson picked the longtime host up at the airport and took him to his hotel. During the La Crosse Center performance on Saturday, Sept. 24, her shoe strap broke and she mentioned it to Parks. “He said, ‘Give me that shoe’ and took it and found a stapler, stapled it and gave it back to me,” she explains. The altered shoe held the rest of the evening.
Anderson also recalls her dress sticking because of static cling. As one who had been around pageants for decades — he hosted Miss America from 1955-79 — Parks told her to find a bathroom and sprinkle some water on her panty hose and undergarments. She did, and the problem was solved.
“He was so personable and so kind,” Anderson says. “I absolutely loved him. He was so much fun.”
Parks also altered his trademark Miss America song to “There she is, Miss Oktoberfest” when Barb Mullally was crowned Miss La Crosse Oktoberfest. She went on to become 1984 Miss Wisconsin the following summer. Her welcome home celebration included congratulatory wishes from Parks.
“I was very proud to be able to get him here,” she says. “It certainly helped to elevate the image of our event.”
The committee paid Parks $9,000 for his Oktoberfest appearance, travel and lodging. Admission was $6.
It was quite the coup for Anderson to land the face of the Miss America pageant for a quarter century. She became involved with the Miss La Crosse Oktoberfest Pageant in her hometown in 1975 while working for Heileman Brewing Co. Heileman’s Industrial Relations Manager, Jerry Miller, approached her to get involved with the committee on behalf of Russell Cleary, president of the company.
“Russ encouraged Heileman employees to be involved in many Oktoberfest functions,” she explains. “I really enjoyed it.”
Anderson knew very little about the Miss America program and its pageants before joining the Miss La Crosse Oktoberfest committee, eventually becoming its co-chair with Caryl Molzahn. “It was the scholarship aspect that drew me to the pageant,” she notes.
She served on the committee until 1985 when she moved to Heileman’s Lone Star brewery in San Antonio. Eventually, she moved to the company’s breweries in Baltimore, Maryland, and Portland, Oregon, before returning to La Crosse.
Anderson says contestants often came into the pageant never having worn high heels. She saw them gain self-confidence, interview skills and poise.
“I saw what a stretch it was for them. I sure found out it was a lot more than just a beauty pageant,” says Anderson, who worked with the pageant through 1985. “We became like mothers to them.”
Along with Mullally’s 1984 Miss Wisconsin title, 1981 Miss La Crosse Oktoberfest Gail Soller earned the 1982 Miss Wisconsin crown. Both were under Anderson and Molzahn’s tutelage.
-Info compiled by Brad Quarberg during an interview conducted with Candyce “Candy” Anderson Del Bello on Feb. 23, 2026.
Barbara Mullally, who was crowned Miss La Crosse Oktoberfest 1983 by longtime Miss America host Bert Parks, went on to become Miss Wisconsin 1984. When Mullally returned to La Crosse following the state pageant, she was welcomed home during a ceremony at the bandshell in Riverside Park that included a letter of congratulations from Parks.
Image courtesy of UW-La Crosse Area Research Center at Murphy Library
A La Crosse Tribune article announces longtime Miss America host Bert Park’s appearance at the 1983 Miss La Crosse Oktoberfest pageant.
Image courtesy of UW-La Crosse Area Research Center at Murphy Library