Is it really Woodstock if folks are welcome?

There is a certain inevitability associated with the Woodstock site: Tell people they can't come, and they will be there.

That's why it was short-sighted of the Town of Bethel to issue a permanent injunction against a gathering on the site of Max Yasgur's old homestead. The property, now owned by Roy Howard and Jeryl Abramson, is down the road from Yasgur's farm, which was the original festival site. Hundreds have gathered on the Howard property during the past two Woodstock anniversaries.

Knowing that the people would come, the Town of Bethel got an injunction against a mass gathering on Howard's property in June. A state Supreme Court panel upheld that injunction earlier this week.

And, as of yesterday, hundreds had already set up camp on the property for this year's unofficial gathering. Town officials were deluding themselves if they imagined an injunction would keep them away.

No doubt, Alan Gerry, who owns the original festival site, deserves enormous praise and the gratitude of Sullivan County residents for finally stepping in and developing the original site. For the first time in 29 years, Sullivan residents have an opportunity to cash in on the holy ground. And why shouldn't they?

But the illegal Howard gathering down the road may be the only part of this weekend that's in the true Woodstock tradition. There's a certain perversity in the concert gatherers that says if the welcome mat is out, then it's not really Woodstock. If it's clean and there's plumbing, it doesn't count. To be in the real Woodstock spirit, you've gotta tell them no, and you can't provide port-a-potties.

The Times Herald-Record Print Edition
Copyright August, 1998,
Orange County Publications, a division of Ottaway Newspapers
all rights reserved.