Don McLean immortalized that cold February night of 1959 in his legendary “American Pie,” but there are still Fort Dodge natives who actually lived that night. The music of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens, didn’t just make a generation smile, it made them get up and dance. The three stars who lost their lives ‘The Day the Music Died,’ are forever remembered for the joy their short lives brought to so many.

It was the chance to dance and be with friends that drew Roger Kinseth and his best friend, Gary Crouse, to plop down $1.50 to see the up and coming stars of the Winter Dance Party at the Laramar Ballroom in downtown Fort Dodge on Friday, Jan. 30, 1959.

Kinseth and Crouse were 17-years-old, juniors at Fort Dodge Senior High School, and loved nothing better than a night out with friends at the Laramar. ‘Shagging the Drag’ on Central Avenue to the Square was also a good time, but it’s hard to beat the fun that teenage boys and girls can have together on the dance floor, and the Laramar was just the place for it.

“You always took your dates to the Laramar on Friday and Saturday nights,” Crouse said. “That’s just what you did. We had so many popular groups that came to the Laramar back then.”

-Photo by Sharon Lassiter, courtesy of Sevan Garabedian
above: Buddy Holly sings on the stage of the Laramar Ballroom on Jan. 30, 1959. Notice the time on the clock and the advertising sign in the background.

The two friends were so impressed with Holly, and all the stars of the Winter Dance Party, that when they learned the show would be on stage at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake just three nights later, they decided they wanted to see it again. After all, who knew when such rising stars would be back in the area?

“We just decided to get some dates and go on up to The Surf and see the show again,” Kinseth said. “We got to see two of their last four shows.”

That no doubt puts the two former Fort Dodgers in rare company. To have seen Holly once is amazing, but to have attended two venues of the hopscotching Winter Dance Party could put them in the record books.

The two men, now retired and in their early 80s, have wonderful memories of growing up in Fort Dodge.

“I’ve talked with a lot of my classmates about it,” Kinseth said. “We had a great life in Fort Dodge, a lot of fun.”

-Photo by R.J. Myers, courtesy of Sevan Garabedian
below: Rock legend Buddy Holly signs autographs at the Laramar Ballroom in one of his final concert appearances before his tragic death just days later.

Kinseth, a retired engineer and Navy veteran who now lives in Fort Worth, Texas, described the era as one of innocence, integrity, and good, clean fun.

“We always danced to the music,” he said. “You weren’t just sitting there listening to them, we got up and danced.”

At the Laramar, there was a tradition known as a ‘trap,’ that got couples to mingle on the dance floor, changing up partners by encircling them in a ‘trap,’ and thus getting to know many people.

The Laramar’s dance floor was reserved for teens only on the night of the Winter Dance Party. Adults could pay $1 for admission to the balcony to watch the show.

Crouse, who now lives in Crown Point, Indiana, can’t quite remember who his date was three nights later when the foursome traveled up to Clear Lake for the last, fateful concert. He does remember that he had to borrow a scarf from her to keep from freezing on the long drive home in the snow.

The two couples had taken a Chevrolet to the lake, a 1953 Bel Air traversing two-lane roads for the long drive back to Fort Dodge.

“We drove home in a blizzard,” Crouse said. “It was terrible. At that time, cars had vacuum -operated windshield wipers, and they couldn’t keep up with the snow, so I had to stick my head out the window to see. I borrowed my date’s scarf so my ears didn’t freeze.”

A few years later he would marry the former Linda Witcraft, who was one year behind him at FDSH. She had been too young to go to the dances that year of the Winter Dance Party, but the couple would make up for it in the years to come. They would raise two children and enjoy 58 years of marriage before she passed a few years ago.

“We were very good dancers together,” he said.

As much as both Crouse and Kinseth clearly enjoyed seeing Holly, it was all the stars who came to the Laramar, and even all the little bands long forgotten, that got a generation up on the floor dancing that made for a great time.

“You didn’t just stand around in a crowd back then,” Crouse said. “You danced.”

Now 65 years later, Kinseth and Crouse still shake their heads at the thought of a small plane taking off in the snow that was building up that cold night at Clear Lake. Pilot Roger Peterson, 21, had checked weather reports three times, according to crash investigations, but had not received the most updated report showing worsening conditions.

Holly, skyrocketing to fame at 22 years old, couldn’t take one more night on the tour bus that never seemed to have a working heater. His drummer had already left the tour, hospitalized with frostbite due to freezing conditions on the bus. JP Richardson, 28, better known as the Big Bopper, had the flu, and a kind-hearted Waylon Jennings gave up his seat on the plane for the ailing singer. Jennings would be haunted by the night the rest of his life. Valens thought he had “won” a coin-toss to land a seat on the plane, but it was a coin toss that would end his life at only 17.

The shattered wreckage of the plane was found the next morning in a farm field only a few miles north of Clear Lake. At least four inches of new snow was on the ground. The three rising stars and their pilot were all reported to have died instantly upon impact. Peterson’s body was trapped in the wreckage, while Holly, Richardson and Valens were thrown clear. The site is marked today with large, Buddy Holly glasses, and tourists flock to it throughout the year, even on cold winter nights.

The men who lost their lives that night are honored with a memorial near the front door of The Surf, which also has a Fort Dodge connection. The granite marker was crafted at Kallin-Johnson Monuments in Fort Dodge and designed by Fort Dodge native Leslie Drollinger Stratmoen, a former lifestyles and entertainment editor at The Messenger.

Furthering the musical connection, Stratmoen, who now lives in Riverton, Wyoming., is the daughter of the late Ralph Drollinger, a well-known Fort Dodge musician who led the Ralph Leslie Band and played in many big bands from Guy Lombardo, Sammy Jensen, Al Welsh, and more. Stratmoen’s own musical talent can be found on YouTube with a heart-breaking rendition of “Precious Child,” in honor of her son.

Were you there?

For Kinseth and Crouse, it is a time worth remembering. That begs the question, who else still remembers those days and who else might have attended that memorable concert at the Laramar in the winter of 1959? With that generation now in their 80s, it’s time to collect and preserve those stories.

An effort to do just that is coming from perhaps a surprising place. Sevan Garabedian first heard the music of Holly growing up in the 1980s and 1990s in Montreal, Canada. Garabedian has attended the annual reunion concert at The Surf several times and is now embarking on visiting every site included in the original Winter Dance Party.

What this Canadian so enjoys about the reunion in Clear Lake is that, far from being a sad affair mourning the lives lost, it’s actually jubilant and celebrates the great impact the young rock stars had in such a short time.

Garabedian has been in a decades-long effort to collect and record memories of the tour from those who saw it first-hand. Some of his work can be seen on Facebook and YouTube. He is hoping that area residents may be able to contribute to the effort to help preserve this important part of local history as it intersects with rock and roll legends.

Garabedian asks anyone with photos, memorabilia, or any memories from the Winter Dance Party to contact him at sevan1@sympatico.ca or by calling 514 970-1959.