Woodstock 1969: The Unexpected Festival Phenomenon

In 1969 a rock festival emerged in the sea of concerts that went by the name of Woodstock. Posters advertised that the festival would be “three days of peace and music” on August 15-17. From the very beginning people said it was like The Woodstock Festival was cursed. The planners couldn’t find a venue, because no one wanted thousands of young people on their property unsupervised. Finally they found a six-hundred-acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York that allowed them to have the festival on their property. As the planners began to set up the event they estimated no more than 200,000 young people would show and only about 186,000 advance tickets were sold by the time the event came around. Around half a million people showed up for the festival

Later on in the day, I learned that those people were going to the dairy farm down the road for a rock festival. Right when I found out what was going on I saw my best friend, Laura, running down the road, screaming about how the festival of the year was right down the road from us. When she finally got to where I was standing she grabbed my arm and told me that we were going to Woodstock no matter what. Laura and I missed the first day of Woodstock, because I had promised to help ma and pa work on the garden. We could hear the crowd screaming and music playing softly the entire day and into the

We all managed to make our way to the very front right by the stage. Janice Joplin was supposed to begin playing at 11:45 and after her The Who was supposed to come on. We mingled with everyone as we were waiting. Finally Janice and her band came on stage and yet again, the crowd was overcome with love and peace, swaying from side to side, it felt so natural. Everyone was just syncing together as if we were all one. I looked down at my watch and it was 5p.m., the bands had just finished so we were just walking around the festival. We sat by a campfire with about ten other people and before long it was beginning to get dark. Laura and I said our goodbyes to all of the friends we made at Woodstock and began to walk towards the exits heading home. I knew in that moment that this was a weekend I would forever remember, and I did. It was the most beautiful, memorable time of our lives, and it held so much love and peace without any judgment at all. Over those two days, we made many friends and great memories. Woodstock was unlike anything else I had ever been to or heard about and was lucky enough to have been able to witness