Dedicated fans of the legendary Beatles musician John Lennon converged on Strawberry Fields in Central Park Sunday to dance, sing and remember the icon’s tragic death 44 years ago.
The grassroots gathering — which drew Beatlemaniacs from around the globe — sprung forth as it does every year on the 2.5-acre tract of impeccably manicured lawn named for one of the Beatles’ most famous songs.
“For the last 44 years, we’ve celebrated his life,” said Quent Kelleher, a 60-year-old native New Yorker who comes to the same spot every year on the anniversary of Lennon’s Dec. 8, 1980 murder outside his home a short distance from the park.
“My best friend called me up that night — he lives around the corner — and told me [Lennon] was shot,” Kelleher told The Post. “And we came out here that night, and we’ve been coming out here [since].”
“We’ve even had binoculars and seen Yoko Ono looking out the window up there watching,” Kelleher said, gesturing to The Dakota Apartments on 72nd Street, where she and Lennon lived before his death.
The music icon was fatally shot just before 11 p.m. that night under an archway in front of his building by Mark David Chapman, who later said he killed the 40-year-old Lennon because he wanted fame and had “evil in my heart.”
The convict is currently serving a 20-years-to-life sentence at Green Haven Correctional Facility in New York’s Hudson Valley.
Kit Stolz, a 70-year-old Californian, who was among some 300 people at Strawberry Fields, came with partner Valeria Levette. He can never forget that day — it is, after all, his own birthday.
“I’m a huge Lennon fan, and naturally it’s very sad,” he said. “He was killed on my birthday. So I thought, ‘Well, this is a way to take the taint off the day.’”
“This is the first time [I’ve come] … it’s such a joyous occasion.”
“There are so many different types of people, really, very diverse,” Levette added. “But just to participate in this communal celebration of John … it’s lovely.”
The party continued late into the day, with people passing around joints, playing instruments, harmonizing to “Imagine” and painting pictures of their long-fallen idol.
“John Lennon’s spirit is here!” Landy Kosmik cried, pointing to a hawk that soared above him as he rocked out with his solar-powered electric guitar.
“This was on my bucket list,” added a man named Pierre, who came from France to take part in the gathering. “I’ve been seeing it on YouTube and I said, ‘I need to go there!’”
Marty Trent, a 64-year-old from New Jersey, has even made the pilgrimage a family tradition.
“When I was 20 years old, John passed, and I was here with some friends, and I bought this shirt,” he said, referencing the Beatles shirt he wore.
“You see this candle?” he continued, holding a two-inch stick of wax.
“They handed this out to everybody at the vigil 44 years ago,” he said. “And every year, we burn it a little bit. As you can see, it’s getting a little shorter … my son, he’s the keeper of the holy flame!”
“It’s been a great time,” he continued. “Everyone’s in good spirits. Then we go out in Chinatown and we eat.”
“It’s a day, you know? A day for the family.”
