A small plane took off from the Mason City Iowa airport in bad weather, shortly after midnight on February 3, 1959. It was a short flight. Killed in the subsequent crash were the pilot, Roger Peterson, entertainers J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, Ritchie Valens and Buddy Holly. They had just finished their performances at the Surf Ballroom in nearby Clear Lake. You are probably familiar with the story of the “The Winter Dance Party” tour and “the day the music died.” (Also on the tour were Dion & the Belmonts.)
Some years ago I attended a convention in Chicago, ending on a weekend. The following week was a schedule of meetings in Kansas City. I drove a rental car between the two cities, with a somewhat out-of-the-way night spent in Mason City.
Digression…
I made a rest stop at a park and boat launch on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, across from Clinton Iowa. I got into a conversation with a couple who were about to put their boat into the water. They offered to give me a brief tour of the sights from the river. It was a good time; there is a fascination with the Mississippi that stays deep within me. We cruised by a number of well-appointed homes on the bank, some built on stilts. They explained to this tourist from California that many were vacation homes, “some worth more than $100,000!”
… end of Digression
Lorraine and Roger were the cool aunt and uncle. They were handsome and stylish and always seemed to be doing cool things or taking neat trips. Lorraine was my mother’s younger sister. They grew up during the Great Depression in Mason City. (Aka “River City; Meredith Willson was a contemporary of my mother.)
Lorraine loved to dance and was a regular at the Surf Ballroom. The story goes that on one certain night, she went there with a date; she left the dance, not with her date, but with the guy who later became Uncle Roger. They were together until decades of smoking and the resultant emphysema did him in. The Surf burned down in 1947. The new Surf, the one that hosted the Winter 
Dance Party, opened a year later, across the street.
Aunt Lorraine had given me the address of their home in Mason City. (My mother was deceased by that time.) I parked across the street from the modest, well-kept house on a pleasant residential street. I was about to take a photograph, but thought better of it, in case someone was watching. I put down my camera – this was in the days before smartphones with cameras were ubiquitous – and walked up and knocked on the door. A nice lady answered and listened to my explanation that I was there because of curiosity about where my mother and her family lived. She was very friendly and told me how many decades she and her husband had lived there. She said the house had probably changed little, but they had added the enclosure around the front entryway. She didn’t invite me in, but said it was perfectly all right for me to take pictures.
After returning from my trip, I mailed her the photos of the house and the “new” Surf Ballroom along with a narrative about my visit. She thanked me and said it brought back a torrent of memories.
The Surf Ballroom still hosts an annual Winter Dance Party.
