Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Music and Art Fair drew 400,000 people for three days of peace, love and music
August 15, 1969
Half a Million People and Three Days of Music
From August 15 to 18, 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair took place on a dairy farm in Bethel, New York, and became one of the defining cultural events of the 20th century. Organizers expected around 200,000 people. Approximately 400,000 to 500,000 showed up, overwhelming every plan that had been made. The New York State Thruway was shut down because of traffic. Fences were torn down, and the event became free. Despite the chaos — food and water ran short, rain turned the fields to mud, and medical facilities were overwhelmed — the massive crowd remained mostly peaceful, a fact that astonished observers and became central to Woodstock's legend.
The Music That Defined a Generation
Woodstock featured an extraordinary lineup of artists that reads like a who's who of 1960s rock and folk music. Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Joan Baez, Grateful Dead, Santana, and many others performed over the three days. Hendrix's legendary rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" on the final morning, played to a crowd much reduced by departure and exhaustion, has become one of the most iconic moments in rock history. The event was captured in a documentary film that won an Academy Award and helped spread Woodstock's mythology to millions who were not there.
What Woodstock Meant
Woodstock became a symbol of the counterculture movement and the idealism of the late 1960s — a generation's vision of peace, love, and community living briefly made real. It has been mythologized to the point where it is hard to separate fact from legend, but its cultural footprint is undeniable. Every subsequent music festival, from Glastonbury to Coachella, exists partly in Woodstock's shadow. Attempts to recreate it, including a disastrous 1999 anniversary event, have only confirmed that the original was something unique to its time and place. Woodstock remains the standard against which all other music gatherings are measured.