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.
An Obstacle Course
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.
“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”!
People Played with Suspended Gongs at the “Free Stage”
The Free stage we mentioned earlier wasn’t only for jamming and mic performances, it was a free, open space where people could go and do all sorts of activities, like a Hippie Disneyland of sorts, complete with drugs, massages, free hugs, and all sorts of instruments laying around. In the photo below, you can see people playing with some hanging gongs near the Free Stage.
Of course, what was Disneyland for some, was hell for others. Famous Indian sitar player, Ravi Shankar, attended the festival and recalled it as something “terrifying”. Shankar said he didn’t have a good time, and the crowds of thousands of mud-covered people reminded him of water buffaloes in India, instead of free spirits listening to transcendent music.
Even Tractors Served as Resting Spots
At Woodstock, any place was fair game when it came to resting.
There were so many people everywhere and so much going on all the time, that finding a resting place was imperative. And that could be anything, even the farm tractors!