CLEAR LAKE, IA-The Surf Ballroom has become more than a place to dance and listen to popular artists. It’s also a place for those who were impacted personally on "The Day the Music Died."
It's been nearly 53 years since this ballroom played host to the last concert of three musical legends...and for some, this place continues to be a reminder of their final moments.
Bob Hale said, "This place..this ballroom has become part of our family life."
Bob Hale was the emcee for the Winter Dance Party of 1959, and after all these years he has one major memory of that night before the plane went down.
His wife Kathy was pregnant and sitting next to the Big Bopper, whose wife was also expecting a child back home. He said it's a conversation he will never forget.
"He said I miss being able to feel the baby move, Kathy would you mind if I put my hand on your tummy. So Kathy picked up his hand and put it there on her stomach and our son Chris rolled around a little bit, he said oh I can't wait to get home..and if you don't think we didn't think about that the next day."
After that, Hale tried to make it the Surf quite often
It's where he eventually got the chance to meet Big Bopper's son.
He said, “I was walking across the floor toward the stage and he came up almost running across the stage he said bobby I want to sit and talk with you. I'm trying to know my daddy. Oh..if that didn't hurt."
Over the years, more and more family members of the fallen rockers make their way to Clear Lake to see the last place their loved ones were alive.
Ritchie Valens’ sister Connie Lemos said, "It can get emotional, but this is the last place my brother was, our brother was. He played on the stage, walked around the Surf, used the phone booth, he was here and when we come, we're here and we're a part of him."
Ritchie Valens' brother and sisters say it's the people of the town that inspire them to keep coming back. They say it's a time to remember, but also a time to rejoice in the successful life their brother did have.
Lemos said, "We're perpetuating the music, their memories, keeping it alive. Just keeping it alive, you know a lot of people say it's become a cliché, the day the music died..it didn't..it will never die."
