Did anyone here go to Woodstock in 1969?

Would have been, but I made my escape to Europe for the first time. Went'to Isle of Wight first festival. Many of the same acts were there, same muddy mess, same finding a bathroom, food, same joy.

Woodstock may have been better, but as mother said "You can't Dance at ALL Weddings."
 
We have an SF member, a Canadian, jimintoronto. I remember he mentioned in a thread that he'd gone to Woodstock for the famous event.

As a Canadian at the other end of the continent, in British Columbia, I can't remember that I'd heard of the festival until the movie was released. (Was that 1970?)
 
Nope. Generation Jones, too young for that. But we did get to bite our nails waiting to face the draft and Vietnam. Just barely missed that, one year older and I might have been thrown onto that pyre.
 
My parents would not let me go. We had just moved back to NY from FL. So I didn't have any friends to go with at the time.

My now boyfriend went to it against his parents' orders not to go. He had a VW bug and had to park it alongside the road on the way there due to traffic. He spent 3 days there and when it was time to leave found that his car was gone. Never found it. Needless to say he got in a lot of trouble when he got home and they did not replace his car. He had to do that on his own.
 
I was living in NYC, in Aug. '69 and a few of us decided to go, But the TV news was all about the main roads north out of the city were parking lots. So we didn't go.
Lots of people claim to have gone. It rained most of the time, and the field was plowed just a few months before. That equals mud, up to a foot deep. If they don't mention the mud, they weren't there.
 
My parents were driving around the area that first day. They picked up and dropped off hitchhikers headed to the Festival. They told me that they did so in my name, as I was in Europe hitching around and they wanted me to meet strangers who would help me. I did. Only hitched in England, not in countries where I couldn't speak the language. Not alone, that first time only with friends. I got braver about it as the years passed.
 
I Drove past it too. Was headed back home. A days drive away. Was within 30 miles of it.
It wasn't a bid deal to me. Fell asleep in the drive-in movie of it. That being said I fell
asleep at most all drive-in Movies. It was a different time back then.
 
katlupe said:
My parents would not let me go. We had just moved back to NY from FL. So I didn't have any friends to go with at the time.

My now boyfriend went to it against his parents' orders not to go. He had a VW bug and had to park it alongside the road on the way there due to traffic. He spent 3 days there and when it was time to leave found that his car was gone. Never found it. Needless to say he got in a lot of trouble when he got home and they did not replace his car. He had to do that on his own.
Click to expand...
I was there. Friday August the 15th in 1969 was my 23rd birthday. I TOO had a blue 65 VW, but it was just trashed not stolen. I went with Bruce Beddie, and Roger Clarke ( both are now deceased ). We bought the 3 day ticket deal from Sam The Record Man's store in Toronto. Drove down the day before, crossing at the Buffalo NY border bridge. We ended up parking about 4 miles from the entrance gates. Carried all of our stuff, including Bruce's boy scout tent and our sleeping bags.

I have written previously here about how bad our experience was. I wasn't lying. The 3 organizers had NO previous experience in running such a HUGE event. Everything that could go wrong, did GO WRONG. The food ran out, the water supply ran out, the porta potty toilets were over flowing, there were dozens of fights with knives, and the drug dealers brought guns to protect their stashes and money. ON Saturday, the crowds simply over ran the fences, and walked right in. THE MUD. This site was a natural bowl shaped ampitheatre looking down onto the stage area.

Being young and there being NO sort of control a half a million kids ran wild. Now add copius amounts of alcohol, drugs of every type, and dumb headed foolishness, you get ANARCHY. The rumor mill was running at 150 mph. The US Army sent some National Guard helicopters to bring in water and food....The stoned crowd imagined that the helicopters were "Gun Ships "' who were going to kill everybody, which caused a major rush of thousands of panicked kids. The M.C. tried to talk people down, but it was nearly impossible to get any one to listen.

Bruce, Roger and I had picked out a good spot up the hill, when we arrived on Thursday, and put up our little 3 man tent. Foolishly , we put a small Canadian national flag on the peak of the tent. As soon as we went to use the toilets, the flag AND THE TENT were stolen, along with our other belongings. So now, we have no tent, no sleeping bags and no food or coolers. We only had the clothes were we wearing, shorts and T shirts and running shoes. We started to have serious conversations about our safety.

The musical acts were very slow to set up, with hour long periods of no music at all. The speaker stands were built of metal scaffolding, by crews who were hired by the promotors. We watched how they were erecting them, and decided to never stand anywhere close to the speaker towers. The stage was huge, and it faced up the hill. The feature acts came in by helicopter, and they were protected by their own armed security guards. The stars stayed out of sight in the trailers behind the stage.


By Sunday, the 3 of us had had it, right up to our eyes. We left, and walked back to where my VW bug was parked. ALL of the windows were smashed out, the battery had been stolen, along with the spare tire, and the seats were all slashed, and the Ontario Provincial license plates were gone, too. We walked a further 7 miles to a small town garage, where we were able to buy a used 12 volt battery, which we took back and used to start the car. We drove my crippled little car back to that small town, and filled the gas tank up.

We drove north on back roads, towards the Canadian border crossing at the Ivy Lee Bridge. The Canadian Border officer let us park the VW in the parking lot, and we called home to Toronto on a pay phone, to try to find a friend named Allen, who had pick up truck and a flat bed trailer that he used to haul his stock car racer.

A Ontario Provincial Police SGT arrived and took a report about what happened to my VW in NY State. He noted that my license plates would be entered in the computer as "Stolen " and I would have to pay $15 to get new ones at a later date. Late that night Allen arrived with his truck and flat bed trailer, and we loaded the bug, and set off for home, with Bruce and Roger sleeping in the bug, and me riding with Allen. I sold the bug to Cooksville Auro Wreckers for $200, and bought another one for $450.


To me and my 2 friends, WoodStock was a life lesson on what anarchy looks like, when you put hundreds of thousands of young people in a small area, with no rules, no controls, and tons of drugs and beer. I also learned that being "Not an American " can be dangerous in such a situation. Oddly enough, in the next couple of years, Bruce Beedie went to live in California, and he spent about 10 years working in the custom car business as a body and paint specialist. Roger Clarke as far as I know, never ever set foot in the USA, again. JIMB>
 
JBR said:
We have an SF member, a Canadian, jimintoronto. I remember he mentioned in a thread that he'd gone to Woodstock for the famous event.

As a Canadian at the other end of the continent, in British Columbia, I can't remember that I'd heard of the festival until the movie was released. (Was that 1970?)
Click to expand...
August of 1969.
 
Pepper said:
Would have been, but I made my escape to Europe for the first time. Went'to Isle of Wight first festival. Many of the same acts were there, same muddy mess, same finding a bathroom, food, same joy.

Woodstock may have been better, but as mother said "You can't Dance at ALL Weddings."
Click to expand...
The Isle of Wight festival must have been amazing! I'd love to hear details if you care to share any.
 
Pepper said:
My parents were driving around the area that first day. They picked up and dropped off hitchhikers headed to the Festival. They told me that they did so in my name, as I was in Europe hitching around and they wanted me to meet strangers who would help me. I did. Only hitched in England, not in countries where I couldn't speak the language. Not alone, that first time only with friends. I got braver about it as the years passed.
Click to expand...
Hitchhiking? You rebel ! So did I at 19! 😅
 
jimintoronto said:
I was there. Friday August the 15th in 1969 was my 23rd birthday. I TOO had a blue 65 VW, but it was just trashed not stolen. I went with Bruce Beddie, and Roger Clarke ( both are now deceased ). We bought the 3 day ticket deal from Sam The Record Man's store in Toronto. Drove down the day before, crossing at the Buffalo NY border bridge. We ended up parking about 4 miles from the entrance gates. Carried all of our stuff, including Bruce's boy scout tent and our sleeping bags.

I have written previously here about how bad our experience was. I wasn't lying. The 3 organizers had NO previous experience in running such a HUGE event. Everything that could go wrong, did GO WRONG. The food ran out, the water supply ran out, the porta potty toilets were over flowing, there were dozens of fights with knives, and the drug dealers brought guns to protect their stashes and money. ON Saturday, the crowds simply over ran the fences, and walked right in. THE MUD. This site was a natural bowl shaped ampitheatre looking down onto the stage area.

Being young and there being NO sort of control a half a million kids ran wild. Now add copius amounts of alcohol, drugs of every type, and dumb headed foolishness, you get ANARCHY. The rumor mill was running at 150 mph. The US Army sent some National Guard helicopters to bring in water and food....The stoned crowd imagined that the helicopters were "Gun Ships "' who were going to kill everybody, which caused a major rush of thousands of panicked kids. The M.C. tried to talk people down, but it was nearly impossible to get any one to listen.

Bruce, Roger and I had picked out a good spot up the hill, when we arrived on Thursday, and put up our little 3 man tent. Foolishly , we put a small Canadian national flag on the peak of the tent. As soon as we went to use the toilets, the flag AND THE TENT were stolen, along with our other belongings. So now, we have no tent, no sleeping bags and no food or coolers. We only had the clothes were we wearing, shorts and T shirts and running shoes. We started to have serious conversations about our safety.

The musical acts were very slow to set up, with hour long periods of no music at all. The speaker stands were built of metal scaffolding, by crews who were hired by the promotors. We watched how they were erecting them, and decided to never stand anywhere close to the speaker towers. The stage was huge, and it faced up the hill. The feature acts came in by helicopter, and they were protected by their own armed security guards. The stars stayed out of sight in the trailers behind the stage.


By Sunday, the 3 of us had had it, right up to our eyes. We left, and walked back to where my VW bug was parked. ALL of the windows were smashed out, the battery had been stolen, along with the spare tire, and the seats were all slashed, and the Ontario Provincial license plates were gone, too. We walked a further 7 miles to a small town garage, where we were able to buy a used 12 volt battery, which we took back and used to start the car. We drove my crippled little car back to that small town, and filled the gas tank up.

We drove north on back roads, towards the Canadian border crossing at the Ivy Lee Bridge. The Canadian Border officer let us park the VW in the parking lot, and we called home to Toronto on a pay phone, to try to find a friend named Allen, who had pick up truck and a flat bed trailer that he used to haul his stock car racer.

A Ontario Provincial Police SGT arrived and took a report about what happened to my VW in NY State. He noted that my license plates would be entered in the computer as "Stolen " and I would have to pay $15 to get new ones at a later date. Late that night Allen arrived with his truck and flat bed trailer, and we loaded the bug, and set off for home, with Bruce and Roger sleeping in the bug, and me riding with Allen. I sold the bug to Cooksville Auro Wreckers for $200, and bought another one for $450.


To me and my 2 friends, WoodStock was a life lesson on what anarchy looks like, when you put hundreds of thousands of young people in a small area, with no rules, no controls, and tons of drugs and beer. I also learned that being "Not an American " can be dangerous in such a situation. Oddly enough, in the next couple of years, Bruce Beedie went to live in California, and he spent about 10 years working in the custom car business as a body and paint specialist. Roger Clarke as far as I know, never ever set foot in the USA, again. JIMB>
Click to expand...
Oh, the good ole days!
 
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