The river parts of Riverfest near downtown La Crosse won’t be happening this year. Well, there’s just one part, really.

The River City Water Ski Team had to cancel its part of the show, because the Mississippi River is too high and will actually crest at 15 feet Wednesday, the opening day of Riverfest.

Past events on the river haven’t happened in a few years, including flyboarding — where water jets on your feet simulate floating — and pole vaulting off a barge in the Mississippi.

“We actually have trouble finding a barge that we can rent, basically that business has taken off exponentially,” Riverfest board member Brad Pitel said. “So, when the barges are being used, we don’t have that opportunity.”

Cancelling events hasn’t happened often, and sometimes they’re not even river related. In 2018, the July 4 fireworks had to happen on July 5.

“There was a massive storm that blew through with like 60-70 mph winds right through La Crosse,” Pitel said.

Riverfest opens at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Riverside Park and runs through Saturday night, with multiple big musical acts.

Josh Ross, Drake Milligan and Blue Collar 40 kick things off. The finale Saturday night is Country Line Drive. Check the full schedule of events here.

LA CROSSE, Wis. (WEAU) – La Crosse, Vernon, and Houston Counties are under warnings due to flooding along the Mississippi River.

Impacted areas around La Crosse include Riverside Park and Goose Island Campground. Campground owners say about 60 percent of the campsite is uncampable and they’ve had to deny multiple reservations.

National Weather Service Forecaster Mike Kurz says the recent weather has been a huge factor in the flooding.

“We’ve had a very active severe weather pattern and heavy rain pattern over the last couple months. All that accumulation of heavy rain in the river basins across the area have been gradually draining into the Mississippi River basin,” says Kurz.

The National Weather Service says the rivers will crest at nearly 15 feet.

“That will be kind of heading right into the 4th of July holiday. It’s continuing to increase right now it’s about 14.7 feet, so it’s slowly increasing. Because of all the water in the system right now, it’s expected to be a prolonged crest. It’ll take a long time for the water to gradually recede as we get out of the crest period later this week,” says Kurz.

National Weather Service forecasters add that these water levels are unusual this time of year.

“For La Crosse, this is the latest in the calendar year that we’ve had river levels this high approaching 14.9 feet. The most recent would have been 1993 in the end of June, where it crested just above 14 feet,” says Kurz.

The National Weather Service says they do not expect water levels to rise much higher than 15 feet, which means the area record of 17.9 feet will stay.

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September 28, 2024, marks a new era of college football. For the first time, the University of Texas will play a conference game in the SEC, the conference it officially joined on July 1 of the year.

After four weeks of tough out-of-conference competition, including a trip to Ann Arbor, Michigan to face the defending national champion Michigan Wolverines, Texas will host Mississippi State in Austin to kick off its conference schedule in 2024.

The two teams have not met in the 21st century, but the Bulldogs will be eager to start the Longhorns SEC debut season with a loss. Now, for the first time since 1995, the Texas Longhorns will not be playing a Big 12 schedule.

Mississippi State, however, has a lot of new faces that will need to step up in 2024. After firing head coach Zach Arnett after a 4-6 start in his second season with the program, the Bulldogs finished 1-7 in conference play and 5-7 overall, making them a bottom-three team in the SEC in 2023.

But the Bulldogs rebuilt in the offseason. They called on Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby to become the school’s 34th head coach in school history and added former Baylor quarterback Blake Shapen to lead the school into a new era of SEC football. This offense will be brand new, with a projected eight starters on offense coming from the transfer portal. Lebby has worked quickly to build an offense he wants, and it could be sneaky strong in 2024.

Shapen is already familiar with the Longhorns, as the senior started the 2022 matchup between Baylor and Texas. Off the back of Bijan Robinson, Texas won 38-27, with Shapen completing just half of his passes for 179 yards. 

Now at Mississippi State, the quarterback will look for revenge, and with a coach that his roots from Oklahoma, its sure to be a competitive contest to kick off Texas’ SEC schedule.

2023 Record: 5-7, 1-7 in SEC

Head Coach: Jeff Lebby

Passing: QB Blake Shapen

2023 stats: 184 completions on 298 attempts for 2188 yards, 13 touchdowns and three interceptions at Baylor.

Rushing: RB Seth Davis

2023 stats: 59 carries for 356 yards and one touchdown.

Receiving: WR Kelly Akharaiyi

2023 stats: 49 catches for 1033 yards and seven touchdowns at UTEP.

Tackles: SAF Corey Ellington

2023 stats: 30 solo, 36 assisted, 66 total

Interceptions: LB Stone Blanton

2023 stats: one interception at South Carolina

Sacks: SAF Corey Ellington 

2023 stats: two sacks