History Of Woodstock 1969

Woodstock 1969

In 1969 at Bethel, New York, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was 3 day event that was all about peace, love, music, and partying. It was a historic event that changed what was known back then as the “hippie movement”. At Woodstock there were many influential artists that performed at this huge event. It was a popular festival that led the later generations to embrace the sentiment and mood of what Woodstock came to represent. People didn’t realize (until later) how historic Woodstock really was. Woodstock was actually supposed to be a simple small event that would have around a only expected to have 5,000 people attend. It surpassed all expectations by having nearly 500,000 people attend. In the end it actually become a

popular part of American pop culture and influenced some of modern culture and changed the lives of the generation of the 60s. In the end, the event purveyed a sense of togetherness, culture and family that left many people with a completely different view on life and new philosophy of peace, love, and understanding.

The idea of Woodstock was originally a recording studio that was to be built in Woodstock, New York. It was a small city that many musicians moved to in the late 60s. So, in order to build the studio, the event was promoted as a rock music festival. As ticket sales rapidly rose in anticipation for the festival. It originally was supposed to be staged at the city of Woodstock but was denied permission. The event ended up being held at Max Yasgur’s 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York from August 15-17, 1969 but still kept the name “Woodstock.Since only a few thousand were supposed to attend and only a sum of number of tickets were sold, the festival became free because of how many people who showed up to the festival. Ultimately the people showed up for the event despite the fact that ticket booths were not able to set up quickly enough to sell tickets to people as they entered. The artist saw this and quick demanded Woodstock to to be free.

The people who set up the concert were four organizers known as the Woodstock Ventures who despite limited experience managed to get some of the biggest rock musicians at the time, such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, and more.

The Woodstock Ventures were known as Michael Lang, Artie Kornfield, John Roberts, and Joel Rosenman. Between the four, they collaberated on many important contacts in the music industry.. With their contacts they were able to get 30 plus performers to show up and perform. Artie Kornfield had the most experience out of the four. The rest had little experience to get things done. Arnold Skolnick designed the poster of a guitar and dove which ended up being a memorable send off for the concert. The event itself had cost about $2.5 million to finance. The oldest of the four, John Roberts supplied most of the money from a trust fund he had. The famous poster of Woodstock was created by Arnold Skolnick, and consisted the famous dove and guitar logo. The slogan was “Three days of Peace and Music…An Aquarian Exposition.” The initial advertising did not focus on the performers who would make an appearance, which was probably what drew in so many concert goers to the concert and would wait three days. The promotions focused on the demographic of the youth and

counterculture.

On the day of the concert, many people who came were from NYC and other cities.

As people got closer to the site, there were more and more hitchhikers heading as if they knew something major was going to be happening. Hitchhikers came far from different states thanks to word of mouth. Since so many people who showed up, transportation became an issue. Originally, people traveled by bus and car, which led to transportation getting more and more congested with bumper-to-bumper traffic. As a result, many people who had driven, left their cars and walked to the site. According to police reports, many left their cars on the roads or on the shoulders of highways, (which made the traffic even worse). Many roads were blocked off because of the abandoned cars. The major highways (New York 17 and New York State Thruway) had been closed off. Sullivan County became a giant parking lot for all the concertgoers. This would become the biggest traffic jam that the nation had ever seen before. Much more was the number of people who started pitching tents outside. Woodstock Ventures had estimated only 150,000 would attend; instead there ended up being about half a million people who came. After 3 days problems arose such as lack of food, water supply, sanitation, and medical care. Food for Love, Inc., which was a big food supplier, eventually ran out of food. Nearby churches helped with the food shortage. Another problem arose that organizers were not prepared for: RAIN. On the day the

concert began, the weather conditions were “mud, no sleep, rain, and drugs. But despite the rain, concertgoers stayed.