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is a city in and the county seat of Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, United States. The population was 29,172 at the 2000 census.
The Mason City Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Cerro Gordo and Worth counties.
The city is notable as the place from which Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper took off on the night of February 3, 1959 after a concert at the Surf Ballroom in nearby Clear Lake, Iowa, only to crash in a historic event later referred to as the Day the Music Died.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 26.2 square miles (67.8 km²), of which, 25.8 square miles (66.8 km²) of it is land and 0.4 square miles (1.0 km²) of it (1.45%) is water.