The 1960’s were closed out by An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace and Music festival otherwise known as Woodstock on August 15, 1969. The festival was organized by Michael Lang and Artie Kornfeld and was financed by Joel Rosenman and John Roberts. It intended to be “a snapshot of the counterculture and promote peace and understanding” (Krof 15). A month prior to the event, the original venue backed out. As a result Woodstock was hosted on a dairy farm in Bethel, New York with not much logistical support. The festival brought 500,000 attendees, significantly more than anticipated or prepared for. Having no organized way of managing and selling tickets to such masses, the organizers announced that the festival would be free of charge. For the next three days, thousands of people gathered to listen to incredible live and politically charged music from artists like Joan Baez, Jimi Hendrix, Country Joe etc amidst harsh rains and lack of proper food and bathroom facilities. 

The spirit of Woodstock was anti-war and pro-peace; it was a counter to the grief and violence that the Vietnam War and the assassination of significant leaders had on the American public. Organizer Michael Lang described: “It was a confirmation of our humanity”. Jimi Hendrix’s version of The Star Spangled Banner, the U.S. National Anthem, conveyed empathy with the soldiers in Vietnam while still protesting U.S. involvement in the war. Hendrix was a former U.S. military member of the heralded 101st Airborne Division. Joan Baez performed in the rain, singing songs of the need for change in America’s social structures. There were also booths that were set up to distribute radical materials and Marxist literature.

The lack of organization, infrastructure, and resources available limited the way the public viewed the festival. Food that was gathered by the Red Cross was airlifted into the venue as they heard of food shortages. The heavy rains throughout the days caused the grounds to become mud but overall there were no major incidents or tragedies. The festival ran late as the rain caused additional complications, so the three day festival ended Monday morning rather than Sunday night with Jimi Hendrix as the headliner. By then the crowd had shrunk to around 20,000.



Sources:

Bramen, Lisa Bramen. “Woodstock-How to Feed 400,000 Hungry Hippies.” Smithsonian Magazine, Smithsonian Institution, 14 Aug. 2009, www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/woodstockhow-to-feed-400000-hungry-hippies-65740098/. 

Kropf, Peter. “More Than ‘Sex, Drugs, and Rock “n” Roll?’: Woodstock’s Political and Cultural Elements.” University of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh, 2020, www.forbes5.pitt.edu/article/more-sex-drugs-and-rock-n-roll-woodstock-s-political-and-cultural-elements#fn11.

Ramsey, Jacklynn, "Peace, Love, and Politics: How Woodstock of 1969 Epitomized the Relationship Between Social Movements and Music" (2019). Politics Summer Fellows. 6. https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/pol_sum/6

“Transcript: The August 9, 2008 Panel Discussion” in The Roots of the 1969 Woodstock Festival: The Backstory to “Woodstock,” ed. Weston Blelock and Julia Blelock (Woodstock: WoodstockArts, 2009), 67, 80, 82-83.