Lawrence Welk and three partners came to Yankton in 1927 en route to the musical horizons of New Orleans. But he and the band wound up staying in the city for 10 years.

Such is the case with Lawrence Welk, who was part of this community for just 10 years but will forever be part of Yankton's story.

Welk was born March 11, 1903, on a farm near Strasburg, N.D. He primarily spoke German until his teen years, thus accounting for his trademark accent.

While on the family farm, Welk learned to play accordion from his father. According to legend, a 17-year-old Welk begged his father to purchase him a $400 accordion, and in return, he vowed to stay on the farm until he turned 21.

On his 21st birthday in 1924, Welk set out with his accordion for a career in entertainment. He played in a variety of acts, some of them veering toward vaudeville-style theatrics. When one of these acts, George T. Kelly's Peerless Entertainers, folded, he joined drummer Johnny Higgins, saxophonist Howard Kieser and pianist Art Beal to play at dances and other events in the Bismarck area. In the fall of 1927, the quartet decided to migrate south to New Orleans to find new destinies.

One early morning several days later, the traveling band decided to stop in Yankton and get some rest at the Collins Hotel. Welk eventually hooked up with WNAX station manager Chan Gurney, although according to author Bob Karolevitz, the precise sequence of events is unknown and often blurred by legend. Nevertheless, the Lawrence Welk Novelty Orchestra was offered a one-week contract with the station and became an immediate sensation.

Soon, the one-week pact became permanent and any thoughts of New Orleans were swept aside.

The band went through a number of names, including the Hotsy Totsy Boys and the Honolulu Fruit Gum Orchestra. Welk's band was headquartered in Yankton, doing one-night stands throughout the Midwest when not performing on the powerful, promoting airwaves of WNAX.

While in Yankton, Welk also met a young Sacred Heart Hospital nursing student named Fern Renner. They married in 1931.

The Welk band played everywhere and anywhere, including several important events in Yankton. Most notably, the band performed at Pancake Days, a Gurney's-sponsored event in 1936 designed to help take people's minds off the woes of the depression and the drought. The event is still fondly remembered by many Yanktonians who were there.

In 1937 Welk and his band headed to Omaha to broaden their musical horizons. He eventually created a band called the Champagne Music Makers and found a brand-new career as a television entertainer, beginning at KTLA in Los Angeles in 1950. His program eventually moved to network television and was a prime time hit during the 1960s. After the show left network television, it became a hit all over again in syndication. It is still popular in reruns.

Welk died at age 89 in 1992.

He remains a beloved figure in the city's history and an example of a local boy -- albeit an adopted one -- who made it big.