30 Pictures That Bring the Woodstock Festival Back to Life

30 Pictures That Bring the Woodstock Festival Back to Life

Jacob Miller - July 22, 2017

The Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival on a dairy farm in New York from August 17 to the 18, 1969. Over the course of the rainy festival, 32 acts performed in front of almost half a million people. It is regarded as a pivotal moment in music history and the defining moment of the counterculture generation.

As a result of a last minute change in venue, the organizers were presented with the dilemma to either finish building the stage or build fencing and ticket booths. The organizers opted for completing the stage and the concert became a free event to the public.

The incoming army of hippies caused massive traffic jams in the rural upstate New York. Announcements had to be made discouraging people from going to the festival. Sullivan County declared a state of emergency and during the festival, personnel from the Steward Air Force Base assisted in helping ensure order and airlifting performers in and out of the venue.

Despite the festival’s enormous size, it was a very peaceful event. There were only two deaths, one as a result of a heroin overdose, and the second was caused in an accident in which a tractor ran over a sleeping attendee in a hayfield. There were also two recorded births at Woodstock.

In 20017, the festival site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

30 Pictures That Bring the Woodstock Festival Back to Life
A festival goer on his way. Getty
30 Pictures That Bring the Woodstock Festival Back to Life
A tired, piggybacked, Woodstock child. mindpause
30 Pictures That Bring the Woodstock Festival Back to Life
A woodstock child dancing barefoot. mindpause
30 Pictures That Bring the Woodstock Festival Back to Life
An aerial view of the crowd. AP Photo
30 Pictures That Bring the Woodstock Festival Back to Life
An attendee asleep in the grass. vintag
30 Pictures That Bring the Woodstock Festival Back to Life
Asleep on his bike. Getty Images
30 Pictures That Bring the Woodstock Festival Back to Life
Cows and tents at Woodstock. BBC
30 Pictures That Bring the Woodstock Festival Back to Life
Dancing in the rain. vintag
30 Pictures That Bring the Woodstock Festival Back to Life
Despite tensions between the hippies and military, the home guard sent medivac helicopters to help the sick and injured. BBC
30 Pictures That Bring the Woodstock Festival Back to Life
Enjoying nature. vintag
30 Pictures That Bring the Woodstock Festival Back to Life
Free love. vintag
30 Pictures That Bring the Woodstock Festival Back to Life
Half a million people showed up to the festival. vintag
30 Pictures That Bring the Woodstock Festival Back to Life
Hiding from the rain. Life
30 Pictures That Bring the Woodstock Festival Back to Life
Interpretive dance. Pinterest
Advertisement