What do you remember about Woodstock?

[VickiM68]

Were you there? Or, maybe you just experienced the spirit from afar. Share your stories of what you remember and how the festival affected you.

[dg83639026]

In August 1969, I was 15 years old living in New Jersey.  My parents sent me to an overnight camp in New York state.  Two of my friends came too.  It was a camp for the performing arts; I was into theater at the time.  One of the planned field trips was to Woodstock!  My parents didn't have a clue what it was all about but I was totally excited.  So that's how I got there.  On a bus with chaperones and everything.  I remember nothing about chaperones once we arrived but at this point some of my memories are rather hazy.  I had a great seat in front of the tall speaker tower to the right of the stage.  I was glued there--the music was absolutely incredible.  Best music memories:  Joan Baez singing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot; Santana because I'd never heard anything like them before; Sly & The Family Stone; Janis Joplin.  We left on the morning of the third day, having had enough of the mud and rain.  I love that I was there, treasure the memories, and feel very fortunate to have had the experience of a lifetime there.  And I'm so glad I wasn't my parents, who were terrified reading about it all in the New York Times!

[1968Hoya46]

I wasn’t allowed to go to Woodstock. Not by my parents, but by the Army, who insisted (after drafting me out of law school) that I attend Basic Training instead. So I spent those 3 days (and many others) doing soldier things in the 180° heat of Fort Gordon, GA. Surprisingly, about a year later I saw Woodstock (the movie) at a movie theater at Fort Riley, KS. I guess the Army liked good music...

[Cirice]

I don't remember Woodstock at all. I was only 4 years old 😉

[BeatleloverKT]

I was a young impressionable teenager in 1969. I remember that most of the music was so different then what I was listening to ( which pretty much was the Beatles) My biggest memory was of my best friend bringing over her newly purchased Woodstock album and playing it for me in my room as loud as could be. Although we loved it, my Father did not. By the time Country Joe&the Fish came on, he’d had just about enough. He took that album right off the turntable and flung it outside just like a frisbee. I thought my friend was gonna have a stroke. Needless to say, after that, we never listened to that album at my house!