65 years after Winter Dance Party played Riverside Ballroom, plans in the works to make Green Bay 'international destination' for fans

Kendra Meinert, Green Bay Press-Gazette
·5 min read

GREEN BAY - Sixty-five years ago on Thursday, Buddy Holly played the Riverside Ballroom with the Winter Dance Party.

Sixty-five years ago on Friday, as Holly left for the tour’s next stop in Clear Lake, Iowa, to perform what would be his last show, Vince Lombardi and his wife, Marie, arrived in Green Bay to sign his contract as head coach of the Packers.

Talk about back-to-back iconic moments in the cultural history of Green Bay.

It’s Holly who looms large this time of year, as nostalgia reignites interest in the ill-fated Winter Dance Party across the Midwest during brutal weather and the plane crash that killed the rock ‘n’ roll pioneer, his touring mates Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson (“The Big Bopper”) and pilot Roger Peterson in the early morning hours of Feb. 3, 1959.

Friday night will be the 25th year John Mueller has brought his Winter Dance Party tribute to the Riverside. It’s a night that celebrates the music, the history and the venue. Even after all this time, it still sells out.

“I keep thinking that well, it’s going to go away one of these days, but for some reason, it keeps going,” said Mark Steuer of Green Bay, who has been involved in bringing the event in from the start.

He became fascinated by the city’s Buddy Holly connection when he first learned of it 35 years ago. He’s done extensive research on the Winter Dance Party, amassed a large collection of memorabilia, visited many of the other venues on the tour and made “Buddy Holly buddies” near and far.

“There’s something about this time period for me and others that are into it. It’s cold. It’s winter. The story of this tour, which is like our own Greek American tragedy, youth gone too quickly, music, all that kind of stuff,” he said. “In a weird way though we’ve met hundreds and hundreds of folks from around the country, if not around the world, because of this tragedy. We’re friends, so we get together and try to relive the good stuff, knowing the tragedy is what kind of brought us together.”

Buddy Holly posed with twins Joan, left, and Judy Bender for a photo taken by Larry Matti when the Winter Dance Party played the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay on Feb. 1, 1959.
Buddy Holly posed with twins Joan, left, and Judy Bender for a photo taken by Larry Matti when the Winter Dance Party played the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay on Feb. 1, 1959.

Making Green Bay 'international destination' for Winter Dance Party fans

Steuer will be at the Riverside on Friday with several tables of some of his most-prized Winter Dance Party items, including photographs from the Green Bay, Eau Claire and Kenosha shows. He has all 14 of the photos Larry Matti took at the Riverside Ballroom, including the shot that famously shows Holly posing with twins Judy and Joan Bender backstage.

He’s particularly excited about his latest get: autographs of Holly, Richardson, Valens and opening act Frankie Sardo from the night at the Riverside.

“I call them the Holy Grail of autographs, as far as the Winter Dance Party goes,” Steuer said. “As far as I know, they might be some of the last autographs ever disseminated by those three gentlemen.”

He acquired them in November from Judy Bender after an anonymous donor gave the money to purchase them through Steuer’s nonprofit music organization Strike a Chord Inc. The ultimate goal is to have the autographs and other memorabilia become a centerpiece of a Green Bay music hall of fame.

Among the Winter Dance Party memorabilia in Mark Steuer's collection is what he calls the "Holy Grail of autographs," signatures from Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J.P. Richardson ("The Big Bopper") and Frankie Sardo on the night all four played the Riverside Ballroom on Feb. 1, 1959.
Among the Winter Dance Party memorabilia in Mark Steuer's collection is what he calls the "Holy Grail of autographs," signatures from Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J.P. Richardson ("The Big Bopper") and Frankie Sardo on the night all four played the Riverside Ballroom on Feb. 1, 1959.

More memorabilia: The only known surviving poster from 1959 Winter Dance Party at Riverside Ballroom is going up for auction. But first, its incredible story.

It’s an idea Strike a Chord has had in the works for several years, with a tentative plan of housing it downtown on the second floor of the former Vic Theatre at 217 E. Walnut St. Steuer and others that Strike a Chord has been in contact with already have memorabilia from 21 of the 24 stops on the tour. Eleven of those featured the original acts as billed; 13 were dates that incredibly went on after the deaths.

“We want to make Green Bay the international destination as a tourist draw for the Winter Dance Party from 1959,” Steuer said.

The Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake has a small museum space, but it’s dedicated to primarily the history there. Venues still in existence in some of the other Winter Dance Party cities may have a couple of photos, Steuer said, but others have none at all. There is no central destination for tour memorabilia as a whole.

The hope is that if the Green Bay museum becomes a reality, it could loan pieces to some of the other venues and cities as a traveling exhibit to keep them all connected by the unique history they share.

More nostalgia: 60 years later, 1959 Winter Dance Party lives on as Green Bay's most historic night of rock

While the Winter Dance Party connection would be the initial focus, the museum would also include other aspects of Green Bay-area music history, including Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena. Steuer plans to retire after 12 years as a District 10 alderman to work on getting the project off the ground this year.

John Mueller leads the Winter Dance Party Band through one of many Buddy Holly songs at the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay during one of his previous visits. He returns Friday night.
John Mueller leads the Winter Dance Party Band through one of many Buddy Holly songs at the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay during one of his previous visits. He returns Friday night.

Friday night will include moment of silence for Jim Morrison

Friday’s show is a chance for Steuer to talk with those in attendance about the history and perhaps find people who were at the Riverside that night in 1959 as teens to hear “That’ll Be the Day” and “Peggy Sue” for 90 cents admission.

A moment of silence will be held for Green Bay musician Jim Morrison, who died on Jan. 17 at age 78. He performed in the area for 60 years, most notably for 39 years with the 2nd Century Band and later with such groups as Amy and the Cruisers and Two for the Show.

He was 13 when he saw Holly onstage at the sold-out Riverside.

“Outside it was freezing cold. Inside it was hotter than blue blazes, because of all the bodies,” he told the Green Bay Press-Gazette in 2009.

When Steuer stepped away as lead promoter of John Mueller’s Winter Dance Party in Green Bay after the first 10 years, Morrison took it over.

A limited number of tickets remain for Friday’s 7:30 p.m. concert featuring Mueller as Holly, Linwood Sasser as The Big Bopper and Ray Anthony as Valens, but it is expected to sell out. Tickets are $30 or $33 by calling the Riverside at 920-432-5518.

Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on X @KendraMeinert.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Could Green Bay become a destination for Winter Dance Party tourists?