50 years ago this month, the prototype for today's festivals, boho pants, and tapestry's made history. Woodstock or "The 3 Days of Peace and Music" began on August 15th, 1969 and lasted until August 18th, 1969. Expanded across a 600-acre dairy farm, 400,000 people called Bethel, New York their home while watching some of today's most famous artists perform. This monumental event in history is something unforgettable, especially in today's day and age, as it was the stepping stone for some of today's youth cultural. What do the kids say these days? "Woodstock walked so Coachella could run." There's a lot that people are in the dark about when it comes to Woodstock so, I decided that for it's 50th anniversary, I share some interesting facts about the eccentric three days that was the festival of Love and Peace.
Even though about 90% of people were smoking weed, there were only 33 drug arrests at Woodstock.
If you think rush hour today is bad, imagine sitting in a 10 mile long standstill for three days. People were so sick of traffic that they legitametly left their cars where they were and started walking towards the festival grounds.
There was a massive food shortage! Local nuns began distributing food from a Jewish center near by and it consisted of about 200 loaves of bread and 40 pounds of cold cuts.
In the three days, there were only two fatalities. One consisted of a drug overdose and another one wad a teenager crushed by a tractor while fast asleep in his sleeping bag.
There was no official Woodstock merchandise. Even though there are dupes today, there’s nothing authentic because there was nothing to base it on.
Even though the three day festival was mean to be about $6 a day, the turnout was so astronomical that the show eventually just became free.
The Beatles were supposed to be a part of the show but John Lennon was denied a U.S entry visa.
Many artists demanded to be paid in cash before they even performed. Some included Janis Joplin; Jefferson Airplane, and The Grateful Dead.
The U.S Army airlifted food, medical teams, and performers. “Forty-five doctors or more are here without pay because they dig what this is into."
The most hippie part of the whole festival is the fact that Woodstock had its own security called "The Please Force." Wavy Gravy, the leader, walked around dressed as Smokey The Bear and used pies in the face and dousing people with fizzy water as a threat.
