Friday, June 19, 2026
We stopped in Clear Lake, Iowa, to visit the Surf Ballroom – the place Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper played the night before their fatal plane crash. The day the music died.
They recently built a museum building with displays and an interactive visual presentation. We started there before heading to the ballroom itself. There was a lot to see – tons to read and many, many pictures to look at.
The museum also had a display about Les Paul – hometown boy from Waukesha. I wasn’t aware he was originally from Waukesha until about 20 years ago (no idea how long it actually was) when they put guitars all over town and painted them in fun ways. A lot of things are named for him now. My mom would always say, “Who is Les Paul anyway?” Apparently, he did a lot more than just a design a guitar. He made a guitar out of a railroad tie and telephone wire! And invented multichannel sound recording as we know it now!
We drove on to our day’s destination – Amana – for the Wurst Brass Festival. Keith did not know about licorice straws. Mind blown.
Thanks Barbara. I’ve seen a lot of shows about the crash in 1959, but you’re the only person I know that has been to Clear Lake.
I have not seen any shows, but I will now. I don’t know if Clear Lake would be a destination, but it certainly was worth visiting while in the area
Clear Lake, Iowa, is memorable to me as the place where we first (and last) ate chocolate cheese. It was kind of good, but strange.
I looked up the recipe and learned the principal ingredient is Velveeta cheese. That helped to explain why chocolate cheese was a one-time tasting experience.
And we didn’t visit the Surf Ballroom. Bill Diehl, a Twin Cities DJ and journalist, was the MC for that last show and mentioned that experience often in his column in the St Paul paper.
Chocolate cheese. I’m trying to wrap my head around that.
There was actually no information about the performance that last evening – I wondered about it. I never saw the name Bill Diehl. Thank you.