Iowa All Over: The day the music died

CLEAR LAKE - In the middle of a wide-open field just north of Clear Lake, there is a small memorial. It has flowers, a stone that reads 'May God bless you in all ways” and a handful of signature black-rimmed glasses hanging on the frame of a guitar.

More than 50 years ago, on Feb. 3, 1959, a plane on its way to Fargo, N.D., carrying musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper crashed at the spot, killing all three and the pilot, Roger Peterson.

The night before, the trio performed before 1,200 fans at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake.

Today, the music and the spirit of Buddy Holly live on in Clear Lake, a small town of 7,682 in Cerro Gordo County.

The original Surf Ballroom was built in 1934 on the shores of Clear Lake, across the street from its current location. The ballroom opened at its present site in 1948.

'It was Buddy Holly and the Crickets, was the name of his band, and so the Beatles named themselves the Beatles because Buddy had the Crickets,” said Jeff Nicholas, president of the Surf Ballroom and Museum. 'Buddy influenced so many artists, Paul McCartney is a huge Buddy Holly fan.

'He influenced Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, and just anybody in those early days of rock and roll ...

”

The Surf Ballroom is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has been noted as a significant site in the history of rock and roll by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Nicholas said.

The Surf was built not long after its two other sister ballrooms, the Prom and the Terp, both in Minnesota, Nicholas said.

The ballroom resembles an ocean dance club, with its ocean and beach murals, and where guests dance under the starry sky. Original cloud machines project lights on the darkened ballroom ceiling. Portraits of Holly, Valens and the Bopper hang across the stage.

Inside the green room, where artists prepare to go on stage, the walls are covered top to bottom with the names of famous musicians who have played there or famous visitors, including President Barack Obama.

Also inside the ballroom are some of the only known pictures to surface of the show from that fateful night, Nicholas said.

At two separate times in the ballroom's history, the community of Clear Lake has come together to ensure the legacy continues, Nicholas said.

'One time was in the 1970s, a group of four businessmen bought it and ran it just because they didn't want it to be lost, and the Snyder family did the same thing in the spring of 1994,” he said.

The building is leased to the North Iowa Cultural Center and Museum by the Dean Snyder family, who have owned the ballroom since 1994. The Snyder family refurbished the ballroom back to the way it was in the 1940s, Nicholas explained.

'There have been periods of time when there have been people here and operating the Surf for profit,” Nicholas said. 'I'm a volunteer, and a good share of the people around here are volunteers. The Surf is not a big enough venue for everybody to take, you've got to give. That's why the Surf has survived and that's why the Surf will survive.”

The ballroom hosts the annual Winter Dance Party every February. The festivities include an art exhibit, record show and family sock hop. From Feb. 4 to 6, there will be performances, evening concerts, a guided tour of the memorial site and a wedding and vow-renewal ceremony.

If you go

What: Surf Ballroom and Museum

Where: 460 N. Shore Dr., Clear Lake

Hours: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, year-round

For directions to the memorial site, call (641) 357-6151 or go to surfballroom.com