Memories from the Woodstock Music Festival, 50 Years Later | Arts & Culture - Voice of America

Many Americans are remembering the Woodstock music festival, which took place 50 years ago this week by Peter Musto, Multimedia Producer at Voice of America and Kelly Jean Kelly, Multimedia Journalist at Voice of America.

In this Aug. 16, 1969 file photo, hundreds of rock music fans jam a highway leading from Bethel, New York, as they try to leave the Woodstock Music and Art Festival.
Photo: FILE

Hundreds of thousands of people traveled to New York’s farm country for the event. Some of those attending drove there by car and then walked on foot. Others arrived by helicopter.

The attendees danced at sunrise on a wet hillside and tried hard to avoid heavy rainfall. They slept little, called their parents to tell them they were safe and stood in wonder at the total number of festival goers.

By the show’s end, the attendees left behind wet clothes, bedding and other belongings. But they also gained a sense of community from having been part of one of the most famous events in American music history...

David Crosby of the musical group Crosby, Stills & Nash remembers the behavior of individuals he saw when he was not performing. He says the sight of people sharing food gave him hope. This was especially important, he said, because it was just a year after the assassinations of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy’s brother, had been killed six years earlier. In addition, the United States was also several years into the Vietnam War.
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Source: Voice of America