Financiers John P. Roberts and Joel Rosenman placed a New York Times classified ad seeking “interesting, legitimate investment opportunities,” an early step that later connected them with Michael Lang and Artie Kornfeld as they formed the partnership behind Woodstock.
Michael Lang and Artie Kornfeld joined with John P. Roberts and Joel Rosenman to form Woodstock Ventures, the company created to produce the Woodstock Music & Art Fair.
Creedence Clearwater Revival became the first act to sign a contract for Woodstock, a booking that helped the promoters secure additional major performers for the lineup.
After plans in Wallkill, New York, faced escalating local opposition and permit obstacles, organizers were forced to abandon the Wallkill site and continue the late-stage search for a workable venue.
With the festival date approaching, dairy farmer Max Yasgur agreed to lease fields on his Bethel, New York farm, enabling Woodstock to proceed after earlier locations fell through.
Crowds began arriving days before the music started; by August 13, tens of thousands were already on-site, intensifying pressure on logistics, traffic, and security.
The Woodstock Music & Art Fair opened on Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, New York. It was billed as an “Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music,” but the scale of attendance quickly exceeded planning assumptions.
Woodstock became effectively free when organizers could not complete fencing and ticketing infrastructure before the opening, and massive crowds overwhelmed access control.
Delays pushed the final sets into Monday morning; Jimi Hendrix ultimately closed the festival on August 18, long after the originally scheduled three days.
The Altamont Speedway Free Festival—often framed as a West Coast counterpart to Woodstock—ended in severe violence, including the killing of Meredith Hunter, shaping public narratives about the end of 1960s counterculture idealism.
Michael Wadleigh’s documentary Woodstock opened in U.S. and Canadian theaters, transforming the festival into a widely distributed cultural artifact and helping define the concert-film genre.
The triple-LP Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More was released, extending the festival’s reach through recorded highlights and helping cement Woodstock’s musical legacy beyond those who attended.
Woodstock Festival and Aftermath (1968–1970)
