Technically it's called "The Fest for Beatles Fan" because for some stupid legal reason they had to change the name. However it is, and always will be "Beatlefest" to me and from here on out will be referred to as such. :)
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| "Beatlefest" - YESSSSSS! |
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| "The Fest for Beatles Fans" - NOOOOOOO! |
Me and Beatlefest go way back. I mean way, way back. The Beatles have been a huge part of my life since I was 13. My first 'fest was in 1982 when I was 15 and I was a total freakin' dork.
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| Ummm....yeah, that's me on the left with the painter's hat. Yikes! |
Well, I still am - but I digress. Anyway, in 1982 and 1983, I was finally allowed to go to Beatlefest on the bus, stay for the day each day and come home. The next year, when I was 17, I was allowed to get a hotel room with my bff's and stay for the weekend. Sadly, I have no pictures from that weekend. I wonder why that is??? I guess we were just having too much fun to take pictures. For many many years I went to Beatlefest and stayed the whole weekend, until RL really started getting in the way. Kids were born, money gets tight. You know how that goes.
Beatlefest and the Beatles have always meant a lot to me and was a huge part of my growing up. My girls in the old neighborhood, Jacki and Lisa, had sort of a little Beatle clique and we always had each other to squee together over a really gorgeous pic of John, Paul, George or Ringo or scream (literally!!!!) when we watched "A Hard Day's Night" at Beatlefest - those screaming girls in the movies can't have ALL the fun!
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| Jacki, Me and Lisa - 1988 (Pay attention - because you'll see these awesome chicks later in the post!*) |
Then my neighborhood girls and I met some amazing peeps over the years that we are still friends with. I definitely plan to do some posts in the future about my wonderful friends, but for now - let's get to BEATLFEST 2011!
My love of the Beatles has been passed down to two of my three kids through my DNA. My oldest son, Jake, loved the Beatles when he was younger. Now my youngest, Matt is a Beatlemaniac. The poor kid has been asking me for years to take him but I was never able to make for this reason or the other. Matt did go once before, when he was three, but I don't think he remembers too much.
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| Matt at Beatlefest in 2007 when he was 3. |
So this year I decided come hell or high water, I was going to take Matt to Beatlefest this year.
Blue Meanies and Apple Bonkers were not going to stop me!
Matt was so freakin' excited, that he woke up at 3 a.m. on Saturday morning, ready to go! He had his shirt picked out the day before! So we packed up some snacks, took a few pictures and headed out.
When we got there, we hit the puppet show first.
We stopped at the Art Show/Contest to submit Matt's entry.
It's the one behind him with the red border - #23
There weren't too many entries in the kids category this year.
Then we met up with my friend Jacki* and her husband Rob, who is a really great guy!!!
Jacki and I had an awesome time shooting the shit, catching up!!!!
One of our favorite things about Beatlefest is the Flea Market.
You can get anything Beatles there.
Matt spotted this 18" talking John Lennon doll that he HAD to have.
So after bugging me for 2 hours - I finally said okay.
This is picture of the happiest boy on earth!
We spent A LOT of time at the Flea Market - going around and around and around.
Matt wanted EVERYTHING that he saw, but we settled on a few things.
He made me take pictures of each thing.....he was so proud. He was stopping and showing his stuff off to anyone who would listen to him. LOL
Me and Jacki - AT FEST!!!!!!
The running joke with us has always been that we would spend so much time in the room partying and goofing around that we never would actually go downstairs and enjoy fest.
So every time we go, we have to get a pic of us actually AT FEST!!!!
Liverpool is like the Beatlefest house band.
They've been around forever!
Matt enjoying the concert.....kinda.
It was a little loud for him.
Matt got a ribbon for his art in the contest!
My wonderful friend Lisa* made it later on that night!!!!
More pics from the Art Contest - some of this work is amazing!
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| Hand painted replica of George's guitar |
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| Really cool quilt using Beatle shirts! Jacki and I could spot all the shirts we have or have had. Wish I knew how to make a quilt! |
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| Another really cool guitar |
Beatlefest just goes to show you how much love is still out there the Fab Four and judging by the kids and teens that were there too, it's never going to go away. If you even like the Beatles a little bit, you would enjoy Beatlefest!!! :)
All You Need Is Love
xo
Marie
First gift I ever got from my husband, then boyfriend, was the Abbey Road album. I still have it and love and the husband too. Beatles will never go out of style, talent and good music never do.
ReplyDeleteMatt is adorable. He must have been so proud to win that award for his art work. He takes after his mom I see.
Thanks for sharing Beatle Fest with us, great post!
Awesome Post! I've never been to the Fest but I think I'd like to take Will. He loves the Beatles too. Maybe next year, we can all go together!
ReplyDeleteAnd your absolutely right, All You Need Is Love!
Very cool Marie!
ReplyDeleteI wanna go!, I love music, and the Beatles...looks like y'all had a blast. Great post Marie..
ReplyDeleteCool. Is this like a traveling show or do they do it only by you each year?
ReplyDeleteI love that you could do this with your son. :) He's a riot. Tell him great work with his artwork! And don't worry, we all had various painter's hats. It was the fashion.
My daughter, who's 13 is a huge Beatles fan. Last year when the catalog became available on iTunes, she discovered them and fell in love. She has Beatles artwork up in her room, on her school notebooks, her jacket... Everywhere! And individually, she adores them as well and watches as many documentaries as she can on them. She would have died if this took place by our house.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun!
ReplyDeleteI remember saving up with my brothers to buy each new album as they were released. Ringo was my first crush! I wish I still had my collection of trading cards!
Back in the early '80's we used to go see a Beatles copy-cat band called The Spongetones in Charlotte. They were pretty good. Last year we saw Rain in Delaware. But I'd really like to go to something like Beatlefest!
Well, I didn't have a painter's hat, but I may have had more than one of the Blossom-style big-fake-flower-attached hats. Maybe. I'll never tell. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you could take your son to this and that you both had such a great time!! I'll bet he was excited a happy for days surrounding - and good work to him on the artwork! I like the rainbow ribbon!
I love this!!! Beatles for ever and ever!!! As you know, I am an old cougar momma retro baby boomer Beatlemaniac and I saw the Beatles live 4 times, first time at Hollywood Bowl in '64, two times at the Cow Palace in SF in '65, and the last time at Candlestick Park in SF in '66 (which turned out to be their very last concert appearance). I'll love them forever, they gave me so much happiness in my teen years and always! Thanks for posting this and I LOVE the Beatles!
ReplyDelete@Fran - Awww! What a nice gift from your then boyfriend! But we all know that Profward is a sweetheart! My husband and I actually had "Something" as our wedding song and got a commemorative copy of Abbey Road from the DJ that says "First Dance" on it.
ReplyDelete@NHB - It's a date! I would love to go together next year! It would be so much fun and maybe we can even go in a room. :) Will and Matt would have a blast together.
@Kassie - thank bb! mwah!
@DD - Come next year with me and NHB! We'd love to have you!!!!
@TT - Beatlefest used to have yearly conventions in quite a few cities back in the day but now they only have the Chicago one in August and the New York one in March. They've been doing this since 1974!
@HG - Your daughter sounds awesome!!! She's sound exactly like me at 13. :) They do Beatlefest in Chicago and New York - they used to have it in LA too. Maybe we should have a Twi/Beatle get together next summer! LOL
@Rugbymom - they do have fest in New York too in March. I love that you still have your trading cards! I have a handful that I bought when I was younger, but I honestly don't where they are right now.
@MB - Oh man, he is still taking that John Lennon doll everywhere he goes and making it talk for anyone that will listen! LOL We had such a good time.
@Melbie - I love that you got to see the Beatles live all those times - espcially that historic last concert! I've gotten to see Paulie a few times, but I would have loved to have seen George one time before he passed. You are definitely my Twi/Beatles "go to girl"!!! xo
For anyone that is interested, the website for Beatlefest is:
http://www.thefest.com/
What a wonderful way to spend a weekend and time with your son. The Beatles are amazing and I am glad that they have never gone out of style. You son does look just sooooo happy and that just makes me smile. Thank you for sharing this with us. I have never known anyone to go to this so I love seeing it all. Looks like fun.
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