As the story goes, just after midnight on Saturday, September 19, 1964, a trio of teenage boys saw lights circling Walnut Ridge, their tiny northeastern Arkansas town. Interest piqued, they hoofed it over to the local airfield just in time to catch a glimpse of the world’s most famous quartet disembarking from their chartered plane and boarding a smaller aircraft, a planned rural stopover to avoid the usual crush of fans. But by the time of the Beatles’ return flight that Sunday, John, Paul, George, and Ringo faced hundreds of church-skipping onlookers to see them off. “The story has taken on a life of its own,” says Peyton Tillman, who cochairs Lawrence County’s tourism committee, and adds that it became a “jumping-off point.” The town renamed a street Abbey Road, dedicated a pocket park with strutting silhouettes, and created a Guitar Walk in the shape of a 115-foot-long Epiphone Casino, John Lennon’s favored instrument. It also annually hosts the Beatles at the Ridge Festival (September 21) to mark the aviation anniversary. Is it all a bit of a stretch? Perhaps. But every town needs a reason to, ahem, come together.
Southern Agenda
The Beatles Have Landed
Illustration: Tim Bower