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Thursday, August 27, 2009

Forty Years Ago - August 15, 1969


Forty years ago on this day, American young people were moving in droves toward Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, New York. The country had witnessed astronauts on the Apollo II mission plant a flag on the moon, Ted Kennedy had driven off a bridge at Chappaquiddick Island, and actress Sharon Tate had been murdered along with eight other Californians by Charles Manson. In the soft green hills of the Catskills dairy country however, such events seemed far off as something called the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was preparing to begin. An Aquarian spirit filled the air that weekend as the quaint mountain farm swelled to some 500.000 free-spirited youth. Rain, as well as a food and water shortage did not deter this Flower-Power event as blanket-wrapped, muddy, youngsters awoke on those hillsides that Saturday. The sea of humanity made love, smoked pot, played guitars, and even puked their guts out while Jefferson’s Airplane played on the muddy rim of a slope; and history was made as the Baby Boomers of today enjoyed a wide-eyed, hopeful weekend as the new generation of tomorrow.

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