Come Together: Indiana State Fairgrounds take guests back in time to The Beatles' 1964 concert

Sixty years ago the Indiana State Fairgrounds vibrated with the jumping and screaming of fans seeing The Beatles perform in the state for the first time. On Tuesday evening the Indiana Farmers Coliseum filled up again, some remembering that day decades ago.

“I was nine years old. Went with my mother and my brother,” Max Colver said.

On September 3, 1964, Beatlemania took over the state fairgrounds with the Fab Four — Paul, George, John and Ringo — performing two sold out shows to thousands of Hoosiers.

“We were on the floor about three rows from the back, and we barely could see anything,” Clover said, describing standing on his chair to get a glimpse of the band. “The sound quality was horrible, but it didn’t matter, because we were screaming so loud and having such a good time.”

In 1964, tickets were $5 — with inflation that would be about $50 today. To commemorate the event the state fairgrounds charged the $5 price for general admission tickets to the anniversary celebration, which included a replay of the 1964 concert and a Beatles cover band.

The ticket price was one of many things organizers did to commemorate the historical event.

In the lobby of the Coliseum, people gathered around as a new permanent art installation was revealed. Thousands of Rubik’s Cube pieces were arranged to form a portrait of the four band members.

“So this is made up of 2,368 Rubik’s Cubes,” said Cory Heimann, the artist who created the piece.

The Fort Wayne artist described the process of having 15 people work on solving each of the cubes to create the pixels needed for the portrait.

“Each one has to be solved just right to be able to make up this mosaic,” Heimann said.

Heimann said he wanted to bring together the world’s best selling band with one of the world’s best selling toys.

“Getting to combine those two is such a delight,” Hiemann said. “That’s what I get such a kick out of, is finding different ways for art to mix in ways that you don’t expect it.”

On the opposite side of the lobby a line of people waited their turn to walk through an exhibit of Beatles memorabilia, including 1964 concert tickets, photographs and newspaper clippings.

“It means the world to me, because I’ve seen so many people sharing incredible stories,” said Tom Fontaine, the owner of the collection. “They were there and they talk about [it], and I’ve seen heard a couple people saying, ‘That’s so and so.' So they recognize some people in this.”

For many it was a night of coming together and sharing memories, like Max Colver and his son Mike.

Contact WFYI All Things Considered newscaster and reporter Samantha Horton at shorton@wfyi.org.