By Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CENTRAL PARK — Thousands of fans gathered in Central Park Saturday to commemorate the day that would have marked John Lennon's 70th birthday.
Flowers, candles and pictures clustered in several makeshift memorials throughout the park. At the "Imagine" mosaic, hundreds of fans gathered, some with guitars, to sing songs such as "Imagine," "Across The Universe" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand."
"The turnout is astounding," Beatles fan and Long Island resident Lori Summer-Hayes, 47, said.
"People are so reverential for this anniversary. It shows that you really can give peace a chance."
At Rumsey Playfield, even more fans from all five boroughs convened on picnic blankets to see a free screening of the television film "LENNONNYC," a documentary of the singer's life in New York.
"He's the most important thing that ever happened to the world," New Jersey resident Joseph Mazzara, 49, told DNAinfo while watching the film projected on a giant screen. "His music, art, poetry, way of thinking — he changed the world."
In honor of the singer and activist, a benefit concert at the Society for Ethical Culture was also held Saturday. All proceeds will go to Amnesty International.
"He was a man of peace, you know?" New Jersey resident Michael Zerafa, 41, said Saturday night. "He was for the common man."
John Lennon lived in the Dakota building for nine years before he was shot in front of his home on the evening of December 8, 1980. Some who gatherd say the singer's image was synonymous with that of New York.
"He was a real New York guy," Zerafa said. "New York, that was his true love."
To celebrate her husband's 70th birthday, and also the year that marks 30 years since his death, Yoko Ono released three previously unseen lithographs based on Lennon's artwork in a SoHo gallery opening called "Imagine There's No Hunger" over the weekend.