The "Were You Born The Middle Of May, 1970?" Story

Poster for Woodstock

It was an ordinary day.  Actually, it was four days!  And, the the final report read: There were lots of drugs, a lot of sex and nudity, and a lot of mud (created by the rain).  The event was known as "The Woodstock Festival".  Were you there?  Woodstock was a music festival held between August 15-18, 1969.  It was reported that it attracted an audience of more than 400,000.  Other reports said half a million!  I was 25 at the time and married.  I enjoyed music, but not to the point that I wanted to head to the outskirts of White Lake, New York to hear music from performers such as Richie Havens, Swami Satchidananda and Bert Sommer.  But, as it happened, my wife and I were perhaps some of the few who didn't go.  Four young men, John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Artie Kornfield and Mike Lang organized the Woodstock Festival with the oldest being only 27 years old.  John Roberts, one of the organizers, was an heir to a pharmaceutical fortune so he and a few friends started looking for an idea that would take that money and make them a bunch more.  

The Max Yasgur farm

They originally planned to build a recording studio and retreat for rock musicians in Woodstock, New York.  That idea morphed into a two-day concert that would raise money to help pay for the studio.  They found a location in Wallkill, NY for the concert and began printing tickets.  But, the residents of Wallkill found out about it and passed a law about a month before the festival that there could be no concerts in Wallkill.  Lucky for the guys that a farmer in Bethel, NY by the name of Max Yasgur offered his 600-acre dairy farm for the concert.  A stage, performers' pavilion, concession stands and children's playground were all built quickly.  Then word got back to the four guys that their guestamate of 50,000 people had grown to 200,000.  OK, get more toilets, water and food.  Then they found that off-duty police officers were banned from working the concert.  On Wednesday, August 13, people began to arrive in Max's field.  

One of many useless tickets that were sold.

They planted themselves in front of the stage, not having to pay, since no one was there to collect money.  The four guys decided at that time that it would be a free concert!  Word spread that it was now a free concert so half-a-million showed up.  Traffic was awful, so people abandoned their cars in the middle of the streets and walked to The Woodstock Festival.  Friday evening, August 15, Richie Havens got up on stage and started the festival.  The list of artists went like this: Richie Havens; Swami Satchidananda; Sweetwater; Bert Somner; Tim Hardin; Ravi Shankar; Melanie Safka; Arlo Guthrie; Joan Baez; Quill; Country Joe McDonald; Santana; John B. Sebastian; The Keef Hartley Band; The Incredible String Band; Canned Heat; Mountain; Grateful Dead; Creedence Clearwater Revival; Janis Joplin; Sly & the Family Stone; The Who; Jefferson Airplane; The Grade Band; Joe Cocker; Country Joe and the Fish; Ten Years After; The Band; Johnny Winter; Blood, Sweat & Tears; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Paul Butterfield Blues Band; Sha Na Na; and Jimi Hendrix.

People as far as you could see.

There were so many performers and so many people there, that they had to use a helicopter to shuttle the bands to the stage.  The lines to use the toilets were a half-hour with a 30-minute wait to get water.  There were lots of drugs, lots of sex and nudity and lots of mud since it rained from time to time.  The four guys who started all this had created the most popular music event in history, but ended with an incredible debt of over $1 million and 70 lawsuits that had been filed against them.  

Cover of one of many books written on the concert.

Lucky for them that the movie about Woodstock turned into a big hit and the profits from the movie covered a big chunk of the debt.  By the time all bills were paid, they still were $100,000 in debt.  But, my guess is they would have done it anyway, since it has gone down in history as the biggest music festival, ever!  To this day, Woodstock Festival programs are in big demand with one selling recently for $2,071.  In 2017, the festival site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  And, to think I missed all of that.  Jeez, I guess I'm just an ordinary guy!!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - Do you understand this story's title?

Worth much more today than it was when it was printed.