5 Fun Facts
Happy Birthday, Woodstock!
Happy 50th, Woodstock! To celebrate the Golden Anniversary of the greatest music festival ever (we think), we gathered a few fun facts to drop at your next party or by the water cooler.
What's in a Name?
Woodstock wasn't actually held in Woodstock. The 1969 festival was originally supposed to take place in Wallkill, New York, but was shut down by the locals. So the promoters turned to a small town to the west, Bethel, less than an hour away. While the residents there weren't exactly enthused to host the concert either, a farmer named Max Yasgur let them rent his 600-acre dairy farm for the event. The rest is history.
But wait—where does the name actually come from, you're asking? Woodstock founders named the festival after their company Woodstock Ventures, which, yes, was christened after the town itself, long an artists' enclave—that's where they hoped to open a recording studio.
Woodstock wasn't actually held in Woodstock. The 1969 festival was originally supposed to take place in Wallkill, New York, but was shut down by the locals. So the promoters turned to a small town to the west, Bethel, less than an hour away. While the residents there weren't exactly enthused to host the concert either, a farmer named Max Yasgur let them rent his 600-acre dairy farm for the event. The rest is history.
But wait—where does the name actually come from, you're asking? Woodstock founders named the festival after their company Woodstock Ventures, which, yes, was christened after the town itself, long an artists' enclave—that's where they hoped to open a recording studio.
Pop-Up Big City
More than 400,000 attended the festival, making Bethel—then a small town with little over 2,300 residents—temporarily the third largest city in the state of New York.
More than 400,000 attended the festival, making Bethel—then a small town with little over 2,300 residents—temporarily the third largest city in the state of New York.
PSA FYIs
In between the powerhouse performances—which included Janis Joplin, Santana, Jimi Hendrix and The Who—a man by the name of Edward Monck, who was originally hired to build the staging and lighting, delivered the occasional PSA. Sample announcements: "Kenny Irwin, please go to the information booth for your insulin" and "The brown acid that is circulating around us is not specifically too good. It's suggested that you do stay away from that. Of course ,it’s your own trip, so be my guest. But please be advised that there’s a warning on that one, okay?"
In between the powerhouse performances—which included Janis Joplin, Santana, Jimi Hendrix and The Who—a man by the name of Edward Monck, who was originally hired to build the staging and lighting, delivered the occasional PSA. Sample announcements: "Kenny Irwin, please go to the information booth for your insulin" and "The brown acid that is circulating around us is not specifically too good. It's suggested that you do stay away from that. Of course ,it’s your own trip, so be my guest. But please be advised that there’s a warning on that one, okay?"
Hog Love
Members of the hippie commune known as Hog Farm provided security for the festival. Dubbed the Please Force, they tended to festival-goers having a bad trips by talking them down instead of giving them tranquilizers, and spoke to people kindly, "Would you please do this?" instead of using force or shouting commands. No one had guns. Their crowd control tactics included, as founder Wavy Gravy told the press, "seltzer bottles and cream pies." Fun fact within this fun fact: Hog Farm still exists today.
Members of the hippie commune known as Hog Farm provided security for the festival. Dubbed the Please Force, they tended to festival-goers having a bad trips by talking them down instead of giving them tranquilizers, and spoke to people kindly, "Would you please do this?" instead of using force or shouting commands. No one had guns. Their crowd control tactics included, as founder Wavy Gravy told the press, "seltzer bottles and cream pies." Fun fact within this fun fact: Hog Farm still exists today.
Peace Out
Woodstock was one of the defining events of the free-spirit, counterculture Sixties. Turn on, tune in, drop out. Peace, love and all that. And it wasn't just lip service; you really felt it. Case in point, this delightful anecdote by one of the festival's founders, Michael Lang: By the end of the three-day-concert, as the clean-up crew took over, he noticed that they had created a massive peace symbol from the garbage collection.
Woodstock was one of the defining events of the free-spirit, counterculture Sixties. Turn on, tune in, drop out. Peace, love and all that. And it wasn't just lip service; you really felt it. Case in point, this delightful anecdote by one of the festival's founders, Michael Lang: By the end of the three-day-concert, as the clean-up crew took over, he noticed that they had created a massive peace symbol from the garbage collection.
Above: Feeling the love at Woodstock, left image photographed by Buzz Uzzle; top of page: en route to Woodstock, 1969, photographed by Ralph Ackerman/Getty