Celebrating John Lennon at Strawberry Fields on his Death Anniversary

John Lennon was tragically shot on December 8, 1980, and the Imagine Mosaic at Strawberry Fields in Central Park has become a place where his fans gather on this day to celebrate his music and his memory. I chanced upon a similar celebration on his birthday on 9th October last year, and I now have these two dates marked out on my calendar in the off chance that I can stop by to join the celebrations.

This year, the Imagine mosaic was covered with very a multitude of offerings made by his fans, and there was a non stop celebration of his music with performers very specifically refusing money unlike other days.

Here are some of the offerings up close, all of which were thoughtful to say the least.

His music made for a memorable celebration, and it was amazing to see people in the audience singing along with every single word!

The cutest fan was without a doubt this one, who seemed to be enjoying all the music!

There were lots of vendors selling John Lennon themed stuff that people were interested in buying, today more than ever I am sure.

On the way back, I swung by the Dakota, where the doormen were doing a great job of letting people take pictures, but not to congregate or to leave anything in his memory, as the lady with the ballons in the picture below was very disappointed by.

There is a subway stop right under the Dakota, which has artwork titled Sky by Yoko Ono that I love. Here are a couple of mosaics I crossed on the way to catching my train.

Imagine Peace.

#gottalovenewyork