Three Days of Peace and Music
Woodstock Pioneers
The story goes the idea of Woodstock was pioneered by four individuals:
Plans for Woodstock
The festival was set to be in Bethel, New York after last second venue changes. It was a ticket-entry event. Admission tickets were sold at select stores, mail order, and also up front. Admission was $7 for one day, $13 for two, and $18 for all three days. Woodstock Ventures also organized the performing talent, food, security, and services. Most upcoming artists and bands lived within the New York area, it was a musician's mecca at the time, so finding talent and entertainment locally wasn't a problem at all. |
Summary
Woodstock took place on August 15th - 18th, 1969 in the rural town of Bethel, New York. It was hosted at Max Yasgur's 400 acre dairy farm. It was a significant event in the 60's, and a iconic event in hippie counterculture. Woodstock also goes by the names of "Aquarian Exposition", "Three Days of Peace and Music", and "Woodstock Music Festival". It brought in over 450,000 attendees. During this time, all narcotics were legalized for the life span of the festival. The idea of love and 'good vibes' were encouraged to be spread. These three days were dedicated to peace, love, unity, along with a bit of sex, drugs, and rock'n roll. Woodstock Origins
To this day, it's still argued upon by the pioneers of Woodstock of where the idea for the festival came from exactly. After countless retelling of the same story, none of the founders can recollect. Kornfeld and Lang say that Woodstock was planned to be the most massive festival of their day. Roberts and Rosenman say that their original idea was to build a music studio, but lacked funds. The two were said to have created the idea of a large rock concert in effort of raising funds to pay for their studio. In the end, idea was decided to be the largest rock'n roll concert ever to be conceived for 50,000 attendees. That was also the time of birth of Woodstock Ventures which had each of the founders of Woodstock own 25% of the company. |
Last Minute Changes
Two days before the festival was scheduled to start, nearly 50,000 attendees were camping outside in the festival's grounds. The early birds simply walked into Woodstock thanks to gaps left in the fences that were still being set up. So many walked in, that it was decided that the festival was to be a free event. This had two massive impacts though: the pioneers of Woodstock would lose huge amounts of money invested from the free admission, and news spread of a free festival caught wind then nearly one-million people headed towards Woodstock in flocks. Traffic jams were intense. At one point, highways became so dense that attendees literally parked on the street and walked the final distance to the festival. The performing artists and bands had to be flown in to the festival in helicopters.
Two days before the festival was scheduled to start, nearly 50,000 attendees were camping outside in the festival's grounds. The early birds simply walked into Woodstock thanks to gaps left in the fences that were still being set up. So many walked in, that it was decided that the festival was to be a free event. This had two massive impacts though: the pioneers of Woodstock would lose huge amounts of money invested from the free admission, and news spread of a free festival caught wind then nearly one-million people headed towards Woodstock in flocks. Traffic jams were intense. At one point, highways became so dense that attendees literally parked on the street and walked the final distance to the festival. The performing artists and bands had to be flown in to the festival in helicopters.