(ABC 6 News) – Don Larson was just 17-years-old during the Winter Dance Party Tour of 1959.
It’s when he got the opportunity to attend a concert by his hero: Buddy Holly.

“The Winter Dance Party played in my hometown on January 26, 1959,” Larson, who grew up in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, said. “We couldn’t believe that they were coming to my hometown.”

Larson says he grew up idolizing Holly, and he was awestruck at the performance.

“I only went to really see Buddy Holly. I liked the other entertainers, but Buddy Holly was my hero, and I really only went to see him and I was not disappointed one bit. He was everything I wanted him to be and then some,” Larson said.

Just one week later, tragedy stuck, as a plane carrying the musician, along with Ritchie Valens and “The Big Bopper” J.P. Richardson, crashed in a field just outside of Clear Lake. It’s an event often referred to as “The Day The Music Died.”

“I was absolutely devastated. I came home from school that night, got off the school bus, went into my bedroom and I stayed in the bedroom all night, I didn’t even come out for dinner,” Larson said. “I just couldn’t believe it… I just couldn’t believe it. I just saw them … I just saw them a week ago.”

Larson, finding some good in the tragedy, grew up to become one of the foremost experts on Buddy Holly, as well as a live event photographer, where he took pictures of some of the world’s most famous musicians.

It’s that love of music that’s bringing him and the community of Clear Lake together 66 years after tragedy struck right at their front door.

“Buddy Holly lives every time we play rock and roll. Buddy and Ritchie and The Bopper brought so many people together in friendship and fellowship here, it’s just unbelievable,” Larson said.