WALNUT RIDGE — When the Beatles stepped foot in Walnut Ridge in September 1964, to the delight of several hundred fans, they created a legacy to be celebrated decades later in the town.
Beatles at the Ridge, which takes place in Walnut Ridge’s downtown area Sept. 16-17, pays tribute to the moment the Fab Four landed in Walnut Ridge on their way to a Missouri vacation.
“We commemorate their stop over but we also draw worldwide attention on Walnut Ridge in Lawrence County, Arkansas,” Walnut Ridge Mayor Charles Snapp said.
Beatles at the Ridge features two days of music, arts and crafts, book author symposiums, contests, performances from local dance entities and more. Genres such as blues, country and British rock will be represented, with acts such as the Liverpool Legends, Jeffrey & The Pacemakers and Sonny Burgess & The Legendary Pacers taking the main stage.
Snapp, whose sister was the head of the local Beatles fan club in 1964, said he witnessed the arrival of The Beatles in Walnut Ridge and could recognize the band’s impact on the community.
“Like everybody back in those days, we had a real small house, one TV, one record player. That record player played Beatles songs because she was the older sister,” he said. “At a couple of days before I was 10, my parents rounded me up at a friend’s house and took me with them that Sunday morning.”
In 2011, Beatles at the Ridge was formed as a way to honor that time and also promote tourism to the city, Snapp said.
“We literally put together a marketing plan that is one of the most unbelievable marketing plans I’ve seen,” Snapp said. “The only thing that separated us from everyone else on Highway 67 is that the Beatles were here.”
Snapp said between 10,000 and 15,000 people attend the festival over the course of a day. At any one time, a crowd can be as large as 5,000 or 6,000 people. Last year, 18 states and two foreign countries were represented at the festival.
“Our website will have as much activity overseas as it does in the United States because of the festival and its connection to the Beatles,” Snapp said. “We need regular visitors, not just one weekend out of the year.”
The yearly festival is made possible by dedicated volunteers, the mayor said.
“The city does not put money into it except the police and firemen help,” he said. “It’s literally done by gifts from individuals and sponsors who do this.”
Jude Southerland Kessler, a Monroe, Louisiana, resident who is authoring a nine-volume series titled The John Lennon Series, donates her time as the festival’s Artists & Authors Symposium chairwoman. Kessler first got involved with the festival when Snapp met her a few years back at The Fest for Beatles Fans in Chicago, and he asked her to help out with Walnut Ridge’s celebration.
“I was just so thrilled because traditionally most Beatles conventions are held in the Northeast,” she said. “It was great to see one in the South.”
Prior to becoming symposium chairwoman, Kessler had never attended Beatles at the Ridge, but she felt welcomed in Walnut Ridge.
“It was the warmest, friendliest place I have visited outside of Liverpool,” said Kessler, who will conduct a multimedia presentation titled Lennon’s Liverpool: The Beginnings of the Beatles at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 16, at The Studio on Main Street. “The people were so appreciative of everything we did. They were appreciative of each speaker. They made us feel like we were welcome there anytime. I absolutely fell in love with Walnut Ridge.”
This year’s Beatles at the Ridge will also include new additions. The festival will host a Rocking Wings at the Ridge chicken wing cook-off as a nod to Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles band The Wings. Also, on Sept. 17, the festival will show Good Ol’ Freda, a 2013 film about Freda Kelly, who as a teenager was the secretary of the Beatles’ fan club. Even though Kelly can’t make it to the festival, Snapp said, she’s allowing the film to screen for free.
“If I was going to do one thing that day, I would see that film because it teaches everybody about integrity,” Kessler said. “She was offered millions of dollars to sell the Beatles’ secrets, and she wouldn’t do it.”
Kessler said she hopes event attendees learn more about the Beatles’ music, history and how hard they worked as musicians.
“No matter what happens to you, if you work hard and you are determined, you can find a way to transform it into something that touches other people,” she said.
Snapp said people use the event as a way to reunite, such as for class reunions, but it’s also the music that makes people return year after year.
“It really is a blend of that good ol’ Arkansas rural street festival with world-class music,” he said.
For a full schedule of events and more information, visit www.beatlesattheridge.com.
Staff writer Syd Hayman can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or shayman@arkansasonline.com.