A great weekend day trip:
Even if you weren’t there–or even alive–everyone has an impression of Woodstock, the 1969 rock festival that left a lasting cultural, social and political legacy, held on Max Yasgur‘s 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills from August 15 to August 18, 1969, in the town of Bethel.
What you may not know is that Woodstock is preserved and celebrated at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, in Bethel, NY, about an hour and 45 minutes away.
The Center has an amphitheater that accommodates 15,000, a 440-seat indoor Event Gallery, and the Museum at Bethel Woods.
The Museum is described as “a world-class history museum that places the 1969 Woodstock festival within the context of all the events of the 1960s…telling the story of the world’s greatest rock festival and the decade that made it.”
theLoop has 5 pairs of tickets to give away to this special place. All you have to do is leave a comment below describing your own best impression of Woodstock, whether you were there or not. (Be sure to fill in the e-mail field–it is not made public) and we will send a pair of tickets to the first five!
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Bethel Woods Center for the Arts is a not-for-profit cultural organization, located at the site of the 1969 Woodstock festival in Bethel, NY. Located just 90 miles from New York City on a lush campus featuring bucolic countryside views, the Center is comprised of the Pavilion Stage amphitheater that accommodates 15,000, an intimate 440-seat indoor Event Gallery, and the award-winning Museum at Bethel Woods. The Center offers a diverse selection of popular artists, culturally-rich performances, and educational, community, and museum programs committed to inspiring expression, creativity and innovation through the arts.
The Museum at Bethel Woods is dedicated to the study and exhibition of the social, political and cultural events of the 1960s, including the Woodstock festival, and the legacies of those times, as well as the preservation of the 1969 Woodstock festival site. More than a nostalgic celebration of a colorful decade, the award-winning Museum provides a focus for deeper issues and lessons of the decade.Â
For more information please visit www.BethelWoodsCenter.org.
photos: wikimedia commons
I was at the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival. It was magic. What I remember, that almost nobody comments on, is that everyone shared everything. We knew we were locked into a giant party; but food and drink were scarce.
The music was the real trip. The Who playing the whole Tommy, The Jefferson Airplane greeting the dawn, Richie Havens, Arlo, Melanie, Tim Hardin, Country Joe, Sly, and on and on, and you could hear it everywhere.
On Saturday morning, the roads in were shut down, but there were no cars driving on the farm roads, but thousands of smiling hippies walking here and there. I took my car out, and people just jumped onto the fenders, more than two dozen. It was like one of those trains in India.
We drove up in my ’60 Dodge Seneca. we brought food, and saved a watermelon for the last day. We brought it from the meadow where we slept to the festival music bowl. It was awfully hot Sunday morning. People shared food, drinks, and at about Noon we cut up our watermelon and passed pieces in every direction. It was about LOVE at that point. LOVE AND RESPECT.
a bit later the rain started again, and turned the giant bowl into a mud playground. I went and ran, and slid down the hill. When we left, we were coated with a mud skin.
As much fun as I had, that first shower when I got home was like Heaven.
I was there, reminds me now a bit about “Jaws”: “You’re goin’ need a bigger boat”. At the small stage the Hogfarm commune (in “Easy Rider”) bus parked at, the Boston’s “Quarry” played while a great number of people spilled over the chain link that had been put up, which I had before stood alongside with a ticket! Hastily, a larger stage was being built, and Richie Havens went on for more than a couple of hours. The book “Young men with unlimited capital…” after the NY Times ad the three guys took out to create the concert, is a good read. The rhythmic reach Santana created was awesome! Gave my ticket back to the friend who gave it to me years later.
I had to work at the Mobil gas station in Larchmont. There’s now a TD Bank where the station once stood. Beginning Sunday morning the concert attendees began to reappear in mud and dust covered cars, lining up for gas. Everyone had a story. I am glad I didn’t go! The movie was more comfortable!
i was 11. my parents were shocked by the nudity, the “filth” and the
“hippies.” That just made it all the more exciting to me. And so excited
for my future as a young adult….
I was not there. I was 3 y/o. My cousin who lived in Middletown has an original ticket (same as the red one above) because believe it or not, she could not get to the concert that was under 20 miles away. I love the music and the phenomenon of a huge peaceful rock n roll gathering of some the greatest performers of all time.
Back then young people used to go barefoot a lot, and some at Woodstock sustained injuries to their feet. We were all sitting on the ground and you’d see them pass by with their bandages. I wasn’t sure what had happened to them. Had they stepped on broken glass? Twisted their ankles? Luckily there were first aid tents for the injured.
Lovr jimi hendrixs star spangled banner
I was there and it was fantastic. Great music and people!