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Sunday, August 17, 1997
The smell of veggie burgers, fruit smoothies and marijuana began to fillthe air. A drumming circle formed in the center of the cow pasture. And moreand more people arrived, filling the lower fields and then the field behindRoy Howard's house with vans, cars and tents.
A few thousand people are partying at the 63-year-old's place this weekend, but he isn't allowed to join in the fun.
Since Thursday, a steady stream of revelers have marked Woodstock's 28thanniversary by making the pilgrimage to the old dairy farm still known asYasgur's Farm, which Howard has owned for the past four years.
They expected a big concert like the one Howard played host to last year at his farm, which is about one mile from the site of the original Woodstockevent in 1969. But after almost a year of planning, Howard called off theshow.
A state Supreme Court judge issued an injunction against him last week onbehalf of the town of Bethel. The judge said Howard couldn't hold the annualevent -- big or small -- without a permit.
So he tried to spread the word and posted ``No Trespassing'' signs on hisproperty.
But the people came anyway.
They included aging hippies such as Frank, who sported a beard, bandannaand rose-tinted sunglasses. He attended the first Woodstock and has returnedevery year from southern New Jersey, except for 1992, when he suffered a heart attack. This year, he brought along his 26-year-old daughter, Tiki, whotraveled from Delaware to try to relive the ``miracle'' music festival thatcelebrated peace and love.
``This is never going to stop,'' Frank said. ``I hear there's trouble thisyear. That's sad. It tarnished the image of what this is. But the troublewon't stop it.''
An impromptu tent city sprang up in the woods behind the stage -- the same stage used at the first Woodstock. Vans with tarps strung across the tops of opened doors shaded young couples entwined on blankets, as well as naked babies.
On Thursday afternoon, Howard climbed on the makeshift stage and toldeverybody to go home.
``He told us: `You're trespassing, and you're all in contempt of theinjunction on my property,' '' recalled Gary Rupp, 46, of Carbondale, Pa., who has volunteered at the annual Woodstock celebrations for the past eight years.
No one listened.
Tattooed bikers, preppies in khakis and moccasins, old, young, drunk, sober and stoned. They came from South Africa, from Rhode Island, from California. They continued to pour into Yasgur's Farm.
Howard barricaded himself in the house, refusing to make an appearance orspeak to reporters. He told the police the celebration was a ``spontaneousgathering,'' and denied having invited a single one of the people who werefrolicking on his front lawn, law officials said.
The annual celebration was traditionally held at the original Woodstocksite -- a gently rolling 38-acre field on Hurd Road. But multimillionaireAllen Gerry, who bought the land in 1991 intending to build a park,amphitheater and museum there, put an end to that practice in 1994. Now he has forbidden anyone from camping overnight or holding large concerts there.
Abigail Storm says Gerry is trying to kill the spirit of Woodstock.Gathering and camping and making music on the original site is what Woodstockis all about, said Storm, a founder of the Woodstock Nation Foundation. Thegroup claims that there is a public easement on the site and that Gerry isbreaking the law by having people arrested for camping there.
In the meantime, seven people were arrested over the past few weeks --Abigail and her family among them -- for refusing to leave Gerry's property at sundown, as he had ordered.
During the unofficial celebration at Howard's farm, state troopers watchedover the original site and the monument erected on it several years ago.Visitors were allowed to stay from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., but they were not allowed to park their cars by the side of the road and had to walk more than two miles on Route 17B to reach it.
As a result, pilgrimages to the original site have been few and farbetween, said Arthur Edel, a state trooper who also worked the perimeter atWoodstock in 1969.
Storm said she'll fight against Gerry's plans to develop what she considers a religious site.
``Bethel means `House of God,' and all of this land is sacred,'' she said.``The site is my church, and you can't just buy a church and evict thecongregations.''