Woodstock Festival

:Woodstock redirects here. For other uses, see Woodstock (disambiguation)

Myths of Woodstock

Woodstock has been romanticized and idealized in American popular culture as the culmination of the hippie movement -- a free festival where nearly 500,000 people came together to celebrate peace and love. Although the festival was remarkably trouble-free given the number of people and conditions involved, the reality was less than perfect: Woodstock did have some amount of crime and other misbehavior, as well as a drug overdose, an accidental tractor death and logistical headaches; as stated before, Woodstock was not intended for such a large crowd and thus, many needed facilities were not present, such as a sufficient number of toilets and first-aid tents. Some who attended the festival felt that it was chaotic and did not report having a positive experience.

Related Topics:
Hippie - First-aid

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Also sometimes forgotten is that Woodstock began as a profit-making venture -- unlike the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, whose profits were earmarked for charity -- and that it only became a free festival after it became obvious that the concert was drawing hundreds of thousands more people than the organizers had expected or prepared for, and that the entry gates erected had been torn down by eager arrivals. Tickets for the "Woodstock Music and Art Fair - An Aquarian Exposition" cost $18 for 3-day tickets and, there being no internet or telephone credit card sales, were ordered by mail from a Radio City Station NY Post Office Box. At least one fan still has her tickets and the original envelopes in which they were mailed.

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On the other hand, many, perhaps most, who attended the festival found the atmosphere and music there to contain an unprecedentedly high degree of excellence; in other words, a beatifically eye-opening experience. Those who attended often still find their experiences worthy of a lifetime?s reflection.

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