And while it has been more than 40 years since that fateful crash, the music of the rock ’n’ roll legends lives on at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake where they performed their last concert.
“We love this music,” says Tina Steele, a 50-something grandmother from Manchester, England, who came to Iowa with her husband, Graham, to relive the era of their youth.
Each February, fans from around the world come to Clear Lake to celebrate the era and its music with a dance party at the famous Surf. Sporting pompadours, ponytails, and poodle skirts, they swing, hop, and twist the night away on the ballroom’s 6,300-square-foot dance floor.
Darryl Hemsley got the first dance party started in 1979 when he was a disc jockey at KZEV-FM in Clear Lake. “I was on the air one day,” he says, “and I said that Buddy Holly was killed 20 years ago in a plane crash, and no one ever had a concert for him.”
So Hemsley, now a radio DJ in Burlington, Iowa, put together a concert by contacting acts such as Wolfman Jack and Del Shannon. “It was a hard time getting anyone to come to Clear Lake,” he recalls. “I had to buy half the tickets myself and give them away, but it’s been sold out ever since.”
Since that first dance party (originally called the Buddy Holly Reunion), the event has grown and given this northern Iowa resort community something fun to do during the long Iowa winters.
“By January it seems like the winter has been a year long already,” says Marcia Clemens, a receptionist for the Clear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, “so the dance party gives us something to do.”
Headquarters for the event is the Surf, built in 1933 and one of the last remaining ballrooms in Iowa. It easily accommodates the 2,000-3,000 visitors for Winter Dance Party. The Surf also hosts high school proms, concerts, and big bands performances throughout the year.
The Surf got its name (and motif) from the desire of the first owners to create a ballroom that resembled an ocean beach club, a lofty goal for the middle of Iowa. Hand-painted murals of pounding surf, swaying palm trees, sailboats, and lighthouses—along with canopy-type stripes painted on the ceiling—create the atmosphere of being on the beach.
Clear Lake, named for the 3,600-acre lake formed by glacial action some 14,000 years ago, has been an oasis on the prairie since the mid-1850s when the town sprung up around the lake. Today, the town is a popular destination for summer cabin owners and water sports enthusiasts as well as fans of the 1950s-style Winter Dance Party.
“We go because of the music and the people,” says Barb Young of Stanhope, Iowa, who has attended the event with her husband, David, for 20 years.
“I think it’s the music that makes it such a big deal,” Young adds. “It’s just like you’re back into that time. It’s an experience.”
The experience allows people to relive their youth, even though their bodies have aged.
“You see people who are 40, 50, or 60 years old here doing things like they were 18 again, dressing like they do, and acting silly,” says Sue Beers, 43, of Jewell, Iowa. “Always when I get home on Sunday, my feet hurt, my knees hurt, my legs hurt ... and I’m waiting for next year.”
