On August 15, 1969, the Woodstock music festival opened on a patch of
farmland in White Lake, a hamlet in the upstate New York town of Bethel.
Promoters John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Artie Kornfield and Michael Lang originally envisioned the festival as a way to raise funds to build a recording
studio and rock-and-roll retreat near the town of Woodstock, New York. The longtime artists’ colony was already a home base for Bob Dylan and other musicians. Despite their relative inexperience, the young promoters
managed to sign a roster of top acts, including the Jefferson Airplane, the
Who, the Grateful Dead, Sly and the Family Stone, Janis Joplin, Jimi
Hendrix, Creedence Clearwater Revival and many more.
Plans for the festival were on the verge of foundering, however, after both Woodstock and the nearby town of Wallkill denied permission to hold the
event. Dairy farmer Max Yasgur came to the rescue at the last minute,
giving the promoters access to his 600 acres of land in Bethel, some 50
miles from Woodstock. The event attracted an audience of more than
400.00.
