Surf Ballroom commemorates 'The Day the Music Died'

Joe Naiman

Writer

Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1959 is known as “The Day the Music Died” because of the three musicians who were killed in the plane crash along with the pilot that day.

The Winter Dance Party concert tour which included Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson, who was also known as the Big Bopper, played at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, Feb. 2, 1959.

After the concert they were driven to the airport in Mason City. The plane, which was supposed to take the musicians to Fargo, North Dakota, where they would have been driven to Moorhead, Minnesota, for the Feb. 3 concert whi...