Woodstock became free for many reasons. For one, they did not realize it was going to be such a huge event, and it was literally impossible for them to control the crowds. Also, they did not have much security. People came in through fences and climbed all over the equipment and other things around the farm.
Surprisingly, with such a huge event, there was no violence. Unfortunately, however, two deaths were reported. It was reported that someone died from a drug overdose. Another death was a freak accident where the person was accidentally hit by a tractor. While both of those instances are extremely sad, it is amazing that there were only two reports out of over 400,000 people.
Crowd-Surfing
This amazing action shot shows just how fun Woodstock really was. There were tons of crazy happenings going on all over Woodstock. This is just one of them. Crowd surfing happened the entire time.
People loved to get thrown and surf the crowds, all in hopes of getting a little bit closer to the stage for a better look at their favorite musician.
Dancing in the Rain
The people in attendance at Woodstock did not let rain or mud, or any of the other severe weather conditions ruin their time. It does not matter that the festival was lacking basic luxuries. People literally let their hair down, rolled up their sleeves, and danced in the rain.
The people captured in this epic photograph seemed so happy. They weren’t going to let a little bit of rain ruin their time. A few of them are even wearing plastic ponchos, which means they were prepared for the rain! The ponchos may not have been in Woodstock fashion, but they sure were functional when the downpour started.
“The Free Stage”
There was a school bus used by the Hog Farmers near the “Free Stage”, which was basically a space where artists and attendees would jam and perform open mic numbers. In the photo above, some men are hanging out near the school bus. When the weather started to change and a storm began, a huge crowd started chanting in unison, “No rain, no rain, no rain”.
After just three hours, five inches of rain had fallen and turned everything into a swamp. Joan Baez even started singing “We Shall Overcome”!
Festival-Goers Hugging at 'The Greatest Peaceful Event'
Bethel became the third-largest city in the state of New York for one weekend, after an approximate 500,000 people were at the farm at one time. Of course, no one involved with the Woodstock festival ever expected such a high amount of people to attend, and as a result, there were food and water shortages, among many other issues. In fact, the situation came to such a point that the NY governor at the time, Nelson Rockefeller, officially declared it a disaster area.
Despite there being more than 5,000 medical emergencies at the festival, people still took care of each other and tried to help in any way possible. Even if it was through support and affection, like these three people hugging so happily.