The Woodstock Music & Art Fair, now known simply as Woodstock, was a music festival held in Bethel, New York from August 15-18, 1969 at a 600-acre dairy farm owned by an American farmer named Max B. Yasgur.
Described by promoters as “three days of peace and music,” the event attracted more than 400,000 people from across the United States and many other countries and featured performances by musical acts like Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin, Santana, Crosby, The Grateful Dead, and many others. The event, which occurred at the height of the 1960s flower power movement that valued love, peace, and freedom, became an opportunity for numerous performers and audience members to express their opposition to the Vietnam War. It would later be dubbed by Time as “the greatest peaceful man-made event in history.” Its success also inspired other outdoor music festivals and rock concerts such as The Concert for Bangladesh, organized in 1971 by George Harrison, and Live Aid in 1985.
Woodstock was the brainchild of four men: John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Michael Lang, and Artie Kornfield. Their goal was to raise money to build a recording studio in the bohemian town of Woodstock, New York. After the authorities at the towns of Woodstock and Wallkill refused to grant the four men a permit to hold the event, they decided to move the venue to Bethel, some 50 miles away.
