Woodstock Paper

In 1969, the United States was in uproar from the Vietnam War for the violence abroad and millions of deaths and for the violence at home in response to the war. Thousands of young men and women took their stand through rallies, protests, and concerts. These young Americans who opposed the war made up a significant portion of the population: by the end of the 1960s, half of the American population was under the age of twenty five and forty percent of that population was seventeen years old or younger. The united counterculture against the war was particularly present among hippies, artists, and free-loving forward thinkers from all walks of life. Linked by a communal purpose, people came together to demonstrate their “peaceful” anti-war efforts: Woodstock.
Woodstock Art and Music Festival, inarguably the largest music concert in the world at the time, was held in 1969 in Bethel, New York on 660 acres of farmland. The festival took place over a long weekend: the afternoon of Friday, August 15 to the morning of Monday, August 18. Organizers had planned for 50,000 people per day, but to everyone’s surprise, the farmland concert attracted more than 400,000 people for the three day festival. Because of the unexpected swarm of people, there were significant problems with sanitation (or lack thereof), trash, and the amount of food available. The purpose of Woodstock was for there to be “three days of peace and music.” Woodstock would serve as a refuge from the protest and violence that very much characterized the 1960s and responses to the Vietnam War. Following this purpose, a commune from California, Hog Farm, came and served the people food for free. Truly adhering to the intended purpose of the event, Woodstock participants caused no violent riots or disasters. People of all racial ethnicities, socio-economic statuses, sexualities, religions, and lifestyles flocked to the concert. There was diversity yet equality – a theme that had been missing throughout the