The Day the Music Died (Clear Lake, IA)

“Ritchie who?” I asked. My mom replied, “Ritchie Valens.”

One weekend afternoon in 1987, my mom suggested our family go to a movie and proposed we see the movie, La Bamba. I had no idea who Ritchie Valens was, and my mom explained he was a singer from the ‘50s and the movie was about his life. I wasn’t too sure about this movie my mom was telling me about, but I went along anyways and ended up really liking it – except for the ending of course. Through the movie I learned about “the day the music died” when Ritchie Valens (17), Buddy Holly (22), and Jiles Perry Richardson Jr. or “The Big Bopper” (28) died in a plane crash in Clear Lake, IA on the morning of February 3, 1959.

The Story

In January 1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, “The Big Bopper”, Dion and the Belmonts, Frankie Sardo, Waylon Jennings, Tommy Allsup, and Carl Bunch set out on the “Winter Dance Party” tour in the Midwest.

It turned out to be one of the worst winters the Midwest had seen in decades, and the transportation was very poor with a bus that kept breaking down and heat that kept going out. As Midwesterners we know exactly how important that heat is in January and February!

The Rock & Roll Roadmaps states that on January 31, 1959, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and “The Big Bopper” performed at the Duluth Armory (or Duluth National Guard Armory) in Minnesota in front of a crowd that included Bob Dylan who was 17-years-old at the time. Bob Dylan named the show as an inspiration at the 1998 Grammy Awards when he received Album of the Year for “Time Out of Mind.”

On the evening of Monday, February 2, 1959, the tour arrived in Clear Lake, IA to play the Surf Ballroom. The performances were electric, and the music brought a joy that would remain forever in the hearts and minds of all who attended.

Buddy Holly was tired of being cold in a broken-down bus and wanted to get some laundry done, so he decided to charter a small airplane following the show for himself, Tommy Allsup, and Waylon Jennings to fly to Fargo, ND. At the last minute, Waylon Jennings gave up his seat to “The Big Bopper” who had the flu and Tommy Allsup lost his seat to Ritchie Valens with a coin toss. The plane left the nearby Mason City Municipal Airport after the show. Shortly after taking off, about six miles away, the airplane crashed in a field killing all passengers on the airplane including the young pilot, Roger Peterson (21). The plane crash attributed to poor weather and pilot inexperience. This day will forever be known as, “the day the music died.”

Today you can visit the sites from this historic night – Surf Ballroom, Mason City Municipal Airport, and the Buddy Holly Crash Site. They are all within a few miles of each other and are a two-hour drive from Des Moines, IA, or if you’re coming from Minnesota, a two-hour drive from the Twin Cities. All the sites are a few miles off of Interstate 35 in Iowa. I entered the name of each site into Google Maps on my phone, and it took me directly to each place – no issues!

Surf Ballroom

According to Roadside America, the anniversary of the plane crash was ignored for years at the Surf Ballroom until a bronze “Buddy Holly’s Last Performance” plaque was unveiled in 1979. By then the Surf Ballroom, which had opened in 1948, was in danger of demolition, and remained that way until a local family purchased it in 1994 and restored the building to look the way it did on the day of its most infamous concert.  On September 16, 2011, the Surf Ballroom was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The Surf Ballroom is still a concert hall, and also a museum that holds exhibits devoted to their most famous musicians. Buddy Holly’s cufflinks are on display, as is Ritchie Valens’ wallet. The battered briefcase of “The Big Bopper” is another key exhibit, along with his last hotel room receipt ($3.75) and a copy of Elvis Presley’s telegram of condolences, sent to “The Big Bopper’s” family.

The museum also holds the pay phone used by Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens to make their last phone calls. The area around the phone booth has been preserved, right down to the pineapple wall stencils from the 1940’s. The booth itself is secured with both a deadbolt and a padlock. The phone number, still visible on the dial, has been disconnected.

The Surf Ballroom & Museum is open year-round Monday through Friday from 8am to 4pm with additional seasonal hours from Memorial Day to Labor Day for those who would like to do a self-guided tour. A donation of $5 is suggested during your visit. The Surf Ballroom & Museum also accepts narrated/guided tour (approximately 60-75 minutes) reservations for groups of 30 or more Monday through Friday only. Unfortunately I missed out on the museum as I visited during the weekend, but I will for sure be back to check that out!

Mason City Municipal Airport

After performing at the Surf Ballroom, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and “The Big Bopper” headed to the Mason City Municipal Airport where they boarded a 1947 Beechcraft Bonanza shortly after midnight on February 3, 1959. The airplane, piloted by Roger Peterson, crashed just north of Clear Lake, IA at 12:55am.

When you leave the Surf Ballroom, be sure to stop by and see the airport and not only that, also check out the Avion Azul restaurant located inside the airport and the Kinney Pioneer Museum right next store.

The Avion Azul is a family-owned Mexican restaurant that provides a modern Mexican feel with fresh ingredients, craft margaritas, and table-side guacamole! Sounds delicious, right?

As you leave the airport parking lot you will see the Kinney Pioneer Museum to your right. The museum is home to one of the Colby Car’s that was manufactured in Mason City in 1911, Harry’s Sweet Shoppe that was once located in downtown Mason City, the KGLO Radio Booth, Mason City’s first fire pumper, a local barbershop, farm tractors and implements, and much more! Buildings on the grounds include a one room schoolhouse, a real log cabin home (1863), a blacksmith shop, and a Milwaukee RR caboose. Oh for fun!

Buddy Holly Crash Site

As I stated before The Buddy Holly Crash Site is about six miles from the airport, located at the corner of Gull Avenue and 315^th Street with dirt roads all around. There is limited parking across the street from the site, but if the lot is full you can park along the dirt road. The site is marked by a big pair of Buddy Holly’s iconic eyeglasses, and the posts holding the eyeglasses can be signed by visitors as they pass through. Visit the memorial at the crash site at your own pace. From the big pair of eyeglasses it’s about a 10-minute walk to the actual memorial site and bring your walking shoes as the path is a bit uneven. How wonderful of the farmer who owns this land to have a path for the visitors to use and to see this historic site! I passed many visitors of all ages on my walk to the memorial, many waving hi or saying, “hello.” I even took a picture with me next to the very tall corn stalks – you can definitely tell I was in Iowa!

Roadside America also states that the site didn’t have a memorial until 1988, when music fan, Ken Paquette, made a stainless-steel monument of a guitar and three records with the names of the three rockers. In 2009 he made a memorial for the pilot as well.

The memorial was filled with offerings from those who visited before me: plastic flowers, little American flags, eyeglasses, memorial wreaths, and other such things. I was by myself at the memorial – all the visitors before me had left. It was very peaceful with the blue sky, sun shining, and the corn stalks swaying in the breeze. The plane crash in 1959 was well before my time, but I’ve listened to the music of Buddy Holly (Peggy Sue, That’ll be the Day), Ritchie Valens (La Bamba, Donna), and “The Big Bopper” (Chantilly Lace) and I’ve watched movies like La Bamba and The Buddy Holly Story. I’ll admit there was a sadness when visiting this memorial site. They were all very young and taken from this earth way too soon!

Smithsonian Magazine writes that news of the fatal crash hit 13-year-old Don McLean hard—so much so that, years later, it inspired him to write and record the 1971 hit “American Pie.”

Here’s a song lyric from “American Pie” by Don McLean from Google Lyrics:

“But February made me shiver

With every paper I’d deliver

Bad news on the doorstep

I couldn’t take one more step.”

If you are a music fan (and even if you’re not!), I encourage you to make a stop at these sites the next time you’re in Iowa. Each site is definitely worth the slight detour off of Interstate 35!