McCartney Times

The Fest started in 1974 as the brainchild of a New York-born, New Jersey-raised Beatles fan – Mark Lapidos. In 1974 he was a 26-year-old manager of a Sam Goody record store in NYC. He was a Beatles devotee and he simply wanted to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the year in which the Beatles first came to America. So he decided to create a weekend convention in Manhattan for fellow Beatles fans.

And out of small acorns…

Though he’d never produced such an event before – Mark took the plunge and booked all the convention halls at the Commodore Hotel in New York City for a weekend in early September. He was also very keen to get the blessing of the Beatles for the event. The fates were kind.

On Sunday April 28th 1974 he went to a March of Dimes Walkathon in New York’s Central Park that John Lennon was attending with his friend Harry Nilsson.

Just one hour after the above left photograph (by Robin Titone) was taken, fueled by a mixture of determination and fate, Mark had found his way to the suite at the Pierre Hotel where John was staying. He knocked on the door and to his delight he was welcomed in. Mark sat down with John and told him all about his idea. John’s response was simple: “I’m all for it! I’m a Beatles fan too!”

Having started with the enthusiastic support of John Lennon, the first Fest was held in New York City in September 1974. It was a raging success. Over 8,000 Beatles devotees attended. It was blessed by all four Beatles – who all donated musical instruments to be auctioned for charity. Rolling Stone saluted the event with a front cover story.

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