50 years ago today,

The Woodstock Music Festival Begins

On this day in 1969, the Woodstock Music Festival opened in Bethel, New York.  The festival originally was going to be held in Woodstock, N.Y., 50 miles away, but was denied the necessary permits.  On the verge of being canceled, dairy farmer Max Yasgur offered his Bethel farm. 

The purpose of the festival was to raise money to build a recording studio, etc. near Woodstock, which Bob Dylan and others considered their home base.  

Despite the inexperience of the promoters, they were able to attract top acts, including Jefferson Airplane, The Who, the Grateful Dead, Sly and the Family Stone, Janis Jopin, Jimi Hendrix, and Creedence Clearwater Revival, among others.  

The festival opened with little-known Richie Havens, who put on a three hour show because the next acts were late in arriving given traffic jams all around the farm.  Havens’ performance rocketed him to stardom.  Others followed with career-performances, including Joe Cocker and Jimi Hendrix.  

The festival was supposed to attract 50,000 people but ended up with about 500,000 “hippies” engaging in a love fest with few incidents of misbehavior.

Despite all the “love,” Woodstock was a financial flop that nearly bankrupted its promoters until a documentary film became a hit in theaters across the country a few months later.

This Day In History
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