What Is The Woodstock Music Festival?

The cultural process of Woodstock consisted of rejoicing in the different styles of music and in each individual that came. The festival included many social dramas. Individuals, in that number, are bound to have differences. Woodstock taught people, approximately 400,000, how to resolve their issues by sharing a common goal. The celebration helped to advance the ideas of peace and unity throughout the generation.

Woodstock originally started as a festival in 1969 for young American youth escaping the confines of the world they were living in. The town became instantly famous, with kids searching for the utopia lifestyle. The town became famous to young youth everywhere. The town that was once quiet was now overgrown with young youth sleeping on benches, people now hitchhiking in and out of the town, and also seeking food and clothing. One woman realized all there was a problem and opened her home and phone line to them. The Family of Woodstock still has the same telephone number

The Family of Woodstock, a social service agency, was founded by those individuals who felt that certain factors presented the opportunity for them to start a social service agency as a direct result of the Woodstock Festival held

Music soared through the air and into the ears of the more than 450,000 hippies that were crowded into Max Yasgur's pasture. "What we had here was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence," said Bethel town historian Bert Feldmen. "Dickens said it first: 'it was the best of times, it was the worst of times'. It's a mixture that will never be reproduced again" (435). It also closed the New York State Thruway and created one of the nation's worst traffic jams (Lehrman eLibrary). Woodstock, with its rocky beginnings, epitomized the culture of that era through music, drug use, and the thousands of hippies who attended, leaving behind a legacy for future generations. The lack of planning gave Woodstock the potential for disaster. Volunteers from inside and outside the festival helped relieve any possible problems. Helicopters were used to fly in food, doctors, medical supplies, and even music acts scheduled to appear (Sitkoff eLibrary).

Have you seen those weird music festival T-shirts that people wear and wonder what someone could possibly want to wear that for? While they’re sometimes meant to catch attention of people so they may want to look up the festival, it also serves as a reminder for many amazing memories for the two or three-day event. For a long time now music has changed people’s lives in many ways. It has brought people to fame and lifted many out of depressions. But, to those who haven’t experienced a festival, or even live music in general, you have been missing out an amazing social experience like no other. From the kings of festivals like Woodstock or Coachella to the lesser known ones like Rock on the Range (Hard rock/metal based) and Day for Night (variety) there are hundreds to pick from. One of my favorites is Carolina Rebellion which takes place right in this state.

At the time, teens and young adults were looking for ways to rebel against their religious and strict parents, but in a way that would affect the world in a positive way. “Woodstock was, in many ways, a symbolic high point for the 1960s generation, proving that peace and love were possible in the world, if only for a moment” (Berg 863). The war in Vietnam was a huge event that was taking place at the time of Woodstock. Many of the fans that were present, were

Woodstock was a huge music and art fair that lasted 3 days in the summer of 1969. The site tells who sponsored Woodstock, what different people’s opinions were on the purpose of the festival, and what occurred over the course of the planning and duration of the concert. The promoters wanted to link the theme of the concert to the anti-war sentiment. Many people who were involved were stereotyped as drug users or left -wing politicians because of their appearances. These events, although intended to send a message of peace, also caused a great deal of conflict.

The Woodstock Festival took place from August 15-17 1969 on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in Bethel, New York. “The Woodstock music and art fair never actually was planned for Woodstock, but for the village of Wallkill fifteen miles to the SouthEast” (“Festival!”) All the moving was due to protest by the town's residents. More than 500.000 people showed up, many simply just walking through

Woodstock was originally suppose to have only three bands playing at the 4 day festival. This 4 day music and art festival was originally suppose to be held on the outskirts of New York but was later changed to Bethel, New York to accommodate the many people that were coming. The festival was originally set to cost for attendance, but many of the attendees showed up days before the event even happened. Those in charge decided to cut their loses and let everyone in free.

The Woodstock Festival became very important for this reason. The festival was the most well documented of all the large festivals in the sixties and had the most direct protesting.

‘The hippie movement germinated in San Francisco, with the Vietnam War at its core. The movement eventually spread to the East Coast as well, centralized in New York's East Village in addition to the Haight-Asbury district of San Francisco and Sunset Strip of Los Angeles” (Buchholz 858). Many hippies were angry over the conformist lifestyle that Americans were living in, and wanted to live how they wanted to live not how their employer or television wanted them to live. Hippies also took a political

Woodstock Woodstock was a rock music festival that took place near Woodstock, New York in a town called Bethel. The festival took place over three days, August 15, 16, and 17, 1969. The original plan for Woodstock was an outdoor rock festival, "three days of peace and music" in the Catskill village of Woodstock. The festival was expected to attract 50,000 to 100,000 people. It was estimated that an unexpected 400,000 or more people attended. If it weren't for Woodstock, rock and roll wouldn't be where it is today. Woodstock became a symbol of the 1960s American counterculture and a milestone in the history of rock music. The original plan for Woodstock had been to build a recording studio in the town of Woodstock (Sandow,

John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Artie Kornfeld, and Mike Lang were the minds behind the creation of these “Three Days of Peace and Music”, the oldest of which was only 27. This festival, and all the music played during this time, was extremely influential. Americans at this time needed a weekend of peace, for tension was high. At this time Nixon was threatening to bomb North Vietnam, over 35,000 U.S. military personnel have died in the line of duty, and communism was terrifyingly close to America. Friends and family were overseas, and this music festival was a way to spread the idea of peace and love through a medium that was understood by all: music. This festival would not have occurred if it was not for the high tensions and influence of countureculture through popular music at the time.

While Makower's description of the production of Woodstock outlines an outwardly gradual process of preparation and decisions, newspapers of the era provide the initial shock and public reaction of the festival. Outrage felt by local citizens of Bethel is displayed in an article written by Alfonso A. Narvaez and printed in The New York Times on August 20, 1969. The article conveys the frustration felt by local residents as an influx of thousands caused massive traffic jams, widespread property damage, and a shortage of basic necessities and sanitary facilities. Many local businesses were ill prepared to provide needed goods and services to such an enormous group of people. The Bethel post office was closed while dairy farmers were forced to dump fresh milk because neither mail trucks nor milk trucks

Prior to this important meeting, in December of 1967 the YIPPIES began their plans for the “Festival of Life”, a week of questionable activities which included sleeping in Lincoln Park, developed by Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. It fit in well with the MOBE’s plan. For their master plan to be possible they decided to acquire a permit to allow demonstrators to sleep in the park during Convention Week. On August 5, of 1968 they requested a permit, but failed. In addition an eleven o’clock curfew was set for during convention week by the Mayor, but Abbie and Rubin were not aware of the curfew until August 23 when signs were posted by the local police force. The more radical Abbott Hoffman decided the curfew would be broken.