It was originally called an Aquarian Exposition: Three Days of Peace and Music and was held in August of 1969 in White Lake, New York. Now it is known as Woodstock and has gone down in history as one of the greatest bringing together of rock bands and fans ever. Performers included Santana, Grateful Dead, CCR, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix and brought in a crowd of more than half a million people, from doctors to those hippies. There are now many stories and myths associated with the festival from how it all came together to what happened on stage.
The original site of the concert was supposed to be in industrial park in Wallkill, New York and would hold about 50,000 people. The residents of the town did not want the festival to take place in their borders and on July 15 the town council banned the concert on the grounds that the portable toilets would not meet health regulations. Then a farmer named Max Yasgur stepped forward and offered his property as a new location. This was a huge naturally sloping hill that settled on a perfect patch of land that could hold the stage. If you were looking for an outdoor concert space from California to Ontario you would be unlikely to do much better.
Because of the quick move from one location to another the promoters of Woodstock did not have ample time to sell tickets or increase the security to keep those who didn't pay out of the venue. Three days before the event was to start they decided that it would be more beneficial to put their money towards the preparation of the stage and cut the fence around the site. This is why everyone from could get in on this experience.
No one was prepared for the amount of people that showed up for the festival. On the third day the Governor of New York, Nelson Rockefeller was thinking of sending upwards of 10,000 troops from the National Guard to work on crowd control. This never happened but Sullivan County did declare that they were in a state of emergency. Although, for that many people, the event was relatively peaceful. There were three deaths over the four days, one from a drug overdose, and it is said that at least two babies were born on site. Mostly, it was a place to bring together those that loved music.
No matter who you are you have probably heard about this event and would like to know what it would have been like to be there. No one knows if such a festival will ever occur again anywhere in the world.
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