Come Together

Twist and Shout at Walnut Ridge’s annual Beatles bash

Although The Beatles never performed in Arkansas, their 1964 stop at Walnut Ridge’s airport has inspired a yearly festival celebrating the world’s most famous rock band.

Beatles at the Ridge, set for Sept. 20, will wrap up with a 7 p.m. show by the Liverpool Legends. The longtime tribute band has performed at New York City’s Carnegie Hall and recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London.

“This year, we will have more music on our main stage, with five acts starting at noon and ending with the Liverpool Legends,” says Peyton Tillman, co-chair of the festival committee with his wife, Amber. “There will also be more food, more vendors and more activities for the kids.”

Festival admission is free. Activities take place along the blocks next to the downtown intersection of NW Second Street and W. Walnut Street. There are parking lots around the intersection.

Beatles at the Ridge began in 2011, Tillman explains, “as a lighthearted way for us to celebrate the Beatles’ visit to our town, which was their only visit to Arkansas. It also salutes our other rich music history along Rock ‘n’ Roll U.S. Highway 67.”

Unexpected arrival

On Friday night, Sept. 18, 1964, Polar Freeze diner owner Jack Allison heard a large plane approaching to land at Walnut Ridge Regional Airport, four miles northeast of town. After-dark landings back then were rare, so he sent three teenagers to see what was going on. They returned all excited an hour later to report The Beatles’ astonishing arrival.

On their triumphant initial U.S. tour, the Fab Four were flying from Dallas to New York for their next concert. At Walnut Ridge, which had a runway long enough for the big tour plane, they changed to a smaller aircraft for a relaxing weekend at an upscale ranch in southern Missouri.

Word of their landing spread around Walnut Ridge by Sunday morning. About 300 locals were at the airport when The Beatles got back to fly to New York. John Lennon and Ringo Starr returned here in a small plane, while George Harrison and Paul McCartney pulled up in a truck.

The Encyclopedia of Arkansas reports that “parents snapped photographs of their children next to the plane. Home-movie cameras captured the crowd’s excitement. The sounds of teenagers singing Beatles songs could be heard across the runway.”

A story in the Arkansas Gazette was headlined: “Unfriendly Beatles bug in and out of Walnut Ridge.” Mayor R. N. Stewart told an Associated Press reporter that the crowd “obviously was disappointed that the quartet did not take time to give out autographs. Only Paul McCartney looked out a window to wave. Their manager said they were very tired and were trying to go to sleep.”

Iconic tribute

Any such grousing soon faded. Walnut Ridge later renamed a downtown street Abbey Road.  In 2011, the city unveiled a monument designed to resemble the jacket of the “Abbey Road” album.

Created by Danny West, it is called “The British Invasion of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Highway.” Featuring life-size silhouettes of the four Beatles in carbon-steel plate, it is a prime site for selfies. A sign invites tourists to “Do the Beatles Walk” and post their photograph online.

In 2012 came the building of Guitar Walk Plaza, stretching for 115 feet near the Amtrak Station and shaped like the Epiphone guitars played by Lennon and Harrison. Markers salute early performers of rock and related genres. They include Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sonny Burgess, Conway Twitty, Billy Lee Riley, Wanda Jackson, Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins.

“We’ve found that folks from all over the country, and even from overseas, have connected with our town through the festival and our story,” Tillman says. “Our residents are really proud of the way this festival has grown. Tourism and hospitality go hand in hand, especially in our area. Visits are not just limited to the festival. People show up all year long for our Beatles story.”