TORONTO — It was Beatlemania all over again. Kids wearing Beatles T-shirts, teenagers holding vintage records, and longtime fans sporting John Lennon-style tinted glasses were singing and dancing to Fab Four classics Saturday on the opening day of the first-ever Beatles Celebration.
A first of its kind in Canada, the weekend convention marked the 40th anniversary of the last Beatles' concert in Toronto, staged at Maple Leaf Gardens.
Four decades later, the fan following of the band in Canada still holds strong.
Peter Miniaci, one of the organizers, said he felt compelled to hold the event based on the Beatles' "huge fan base in the country.''
He should know. Miniaci has run Toronto's downtown Beatlemania Shoppe for 11 years and says Canada has "per capita, the third-biggest Beatles market in the world, next to Japan and America.''
"Toronto loves the Beatles and the Beatles Love Toronto,'' referring to the Beatles' tour stops in Toronto in '64, '65 and '66, where the band played six shows during that time.
Susan Peters, 54, attended one of those concerts. She went to the concert of '64 when she was 12 years old, and says that was the moment she became a fan,
"I totally remember it, but there are no words to explain the spirit and the excitement of that event, it stayed with me my whole life,'' said Peters.
"I have been a fan for more than 40 years.''
Greg Gordovitz, 55, also attended the '64 hometown concert as a teenager. He said he first fell in love with the Beatles watching them on the Ed Sullivan show, but the concert remains one of his most poignant childhood memories.
"I slept in line overnight to get tickets to the show, and their sound system was horrible,'' said Gordovitz. "But I am so lucky that I got to be a part of the first generation fans of the Beatles.''
Back then, the top ticket price was a mere $5.50 for a floor seat.
In contrast, fans paid $20 just to attend the convention.
That didn't deter hundreds of fans -- many of them with families in tow.
"I introduced the Beatles to my kids the day they came home from the hospital,'' said Duane Day, who brought his 12-year-old son Dylan to the convention. "I wanted my kids to know the great music of the Beatles,'' said Day.
Buying two more Beatles T-shirts to add to his collection, 16-year-old Paul English said he's even more of a fan than his dad.
"I was introduced to the Beatles by my dad, but I am now the biggest fan,'' said English. "My dad played the Beatles song "Birthday'' to me when I was six, and ever since then, I have been hooked.''
Fans from as far away as Florida and Massachusetts were at the convention, which featured sing-alongs, memorabilia sales, and original costumes the Beatles wore during their performances.
Russ Lease came from Cape Cod, Mass., to display his personal Beatles artifacts collection, which he has been building for more than 20 years.
He calls his collection one of the "weirdest'' in North America, citing memorabilia like hair samples from all four Beatles, a straw fedora Paul McCartney wore in Bermuda, a part of Lennon's bath towel, and drumsticks used by Ringo Starr.
Highlights of the weekend also included a meet-and-greet with original drummer Pete Best and Lennon's onetime companion May Pang.
The two surviving Beatles, McCartney and Starr, did not attend.
Lennon was shot to death by a crazed fan outside his New York apartment in 1980 while George Harrison died of cancer in 2001.
Vendors from as far and England and Mexico -- selling records, books and psychedelic posters -- were busy tending to diehard fans hungry to get their hands on Beatles collectibles.
But for some, being at the conference was just a way to remember the peace-and-love flavour of the 1960s.
"The whole era of the Beatles was magic,'' said Gary Cloutcier, from Ottawa, as his wife Patti bought Union Jack-tinted glasses from one of the booths.
"There was so much unity, so much love, so much peace and so much positivity, this event gives us a chance to remember that.''
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