Woodstock Festival Timeline

Keith Robertson's 1970 children's book Henry Reed's Big Show has the title character attempting to emulate the success of the festival by having his own concert at his uncle's farm.

Max Yasgur refused to rent out his farm for a 1970 revival of the festival, saying, 'As far as I know, I'm going back to running a dairy farm.' He died in 1973.

In April 1970, Mad magazine published a poem by Frank Jacobs, illustrated by Sergio Aragonés, titled 'I Remember, I Remember The Wondrous Woodstock Music Fair,' parodying the traffic jams and challenges of getting close enough to hear the music.

In 1973, the stage show National Lampoon's Lemmings portrayed the 'Woodchuck' festival, featuring parodies of many Woodstock performers.

Image source: Lemmings (National Lampoon)

At the original festival site, land owners Louis Nicky and June Gelish put up a monument marker with plaques called 'Peace and Music' by local sculptor Wayne C. Seeley. The site of the original stage remains vacant except for this commemorative plaque.

Image source: Bethel Woods Center for the Arts

Twenty thousand people gathered at the original site in 1989 during an impromptu 20th anniversary celebration of the festival.

Cable television pioneer Alan Gerry purchased the field and stage area in 1996 for preservation purposes; they remain open to visitors as part of the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.

In 1997, a community group put up a welcoming sign for visitors coming to the historic festival site.

The Bethel Woods Center for the Arts opened on July 1, 2006, with a performance by the New York Philharmonic on a newly constructed pavilion stage located about 500 yards SSE of the site of the 1969 stage.

Notable events since the opening of the center have included an August 2006 performance by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young at the Bethel Woods pavilion near the original festival site.

In June 2008, the Bethel Woods Center opened a museum dedicated to the experience and cultural significance of the Woodstock festival.

On August 14 and 15, 2009, a 40th anniversary tribute concert was held in Woodstock, Illinois, and was the only festival to receive the official blessing of the 'Father of Woodstock', Artie Kornfeld.

On August 15, 2009, at the Bethel Woods Center overlooking the original site, the largest assembly of Woodstock performing alumni since 1969 performed an eight-hour concert before a sold-out crowd. Richie Havens appeared at a separate event the previous night, and Paul Kantner was the only member of the 1969 Jefferson Airplane lineup to appear with Jefferson Starship. Crosby, Stills & Nash and Arlo Guthrie also marked the anniversary earlier in August.

Time magazine named 'The Who at Woodstock – 1969' to the magazine's 'Top 10 Music-Festival Moments' list on March 18, 2010.

Notable events since the opening of the Bethel Woods Center included the scattering of Richie Havens's ashes, who had opened the Woodstock festival in 1969, at the site in August 2013.

In 2017, singer Lana Del Rey released 'Coachella – Woodstock in My Mind,' expressing worries about tensions between North Korea and the United States while using the Woodstock festival as a symbol of peace.

Image source: Coachella – Woodstock in My Mind

After New York's State Historic Preservation Office applied in late 2016 to list 600 acres including the festival site and adjacent campground areas, the site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in February 2017.

In August 2019, the United States Postal Service released a Forever stamp commemorating Woodstock's 50th anniversary, designed by Antonio Alcalá and first issued at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on August 8, 2019.

In 2023, a South Korean organizer officially purchased Woodstock's license and tried to hold a festival in Pocheon, but controversy over insufficient preparation led to its eventual cancellation.

The documentary film Woodstock, directed by Michael Wadleigh and edited by a crew headed by Thelma Schoonmaker, was released in March 1970. The film turned the festival's finances around for Roberts and Rosenman, who were left close to financial ruin but owned the film and recording rights.

Image source: Woodstock (film)

In 1994, Woodstock: The Director's Cut was released, expanded to include Janis Joplin as well as additional performances by Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, and Canned Heat not seen in the original version of the film.

In August 1994, the album Woodstock Diary was released with music not included on the earlier two albums; Atlantic also reissued tracks from all three albums plus unreleased performances as the four-disc box set Woodstock: Three Days of Peace and Music, and an album Jimi Hendrix: Woodstock featured selected Hendrix recordings.

Image source: Woodstock: Three Days of Peace and Music

In 1996, the documentary film Woodstock was inducted into the Library of Congress National Film Registry, cementing its cultural significance.

In July 1999, MCA Records released Live at Woodstock, an expanded double disc set featuring nearly every song of Jimi Hendrix's performance, omitting just two pieces sung by rhythm guitarist Larry Lee.

Taking Woodstock was produced in 2009 by Taiwanese American filmmaker Ang Lee, dramatizing Elliot Tiber's role in bringing the festival to Bethel.

Image source: Taking Woodstock

In June 2009, complete performances from Woodstock by Santana, Janis Joplin, Sly & the Family Stone, Jefferson Airplane, and Johnny Winter were released separately by Legacy/SME Records and collected in the box set The Woodstock Experience. In October 2009, Joe Cocker released Live at Woodstock, a live album of his entire Woodstock set.

In August 2009, Rhino/Atlantic Records issued a six-disc box set titled Woodstock 40 Years On: Back to Yasgur's Farm, including further musical performances, stage announcements, and other ancillary material.

Also released in 2019 was Live at Woodstock, an official album of all 11 songs played by Creedence Clearwater Revival, from 'Born on the Bayou' to 'Bad Moon Rising' and 'Proud Mary'.

Image source: Live at Woodstock (Creedence Clearwater Revival album)

In 2019, Barak Goodman's documentary Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation, produced by PBS, focused on the festival's social and political context with previously unseen footage, and Creating Woodstock was directed by Mick Richards.

Image source: Woodstock

Rhino/Atlantic released Woodstock – Back to the Garden: The Definitive 50th Anniversary Archive, a 38-disc, 36-hour, 432-song box set of nearly every note played at the 1969 festival, co-produced for Rhino by archivist Andy Zax.

Image source: Woodstock – Back to the Garden: The Definitive 50th Anniversary Archive

In May 2014, Michael Lang, one of the producers of the original Woodstock event, revealed plans for a possible 50th anniversary concert in 2019 and that he was exploring various locations.

Image source: Woodstock 50

On January 9, 2019, Michael Lang announced that the official Woodstock 50th anniversary festival would take place on August 16–18, 2019 in Watkins Glen, New York, at Watkins Glen International race track.

On March 19, 2019, the proposed lineup for Woodstock 50 was announced, including original performers John Fogerty, Santana, David Crosby, Melanie, John Sebastian, Country Joe McDonald, Dead & Company, Canned Heat, and Hot Tuna.

On April 29, 2019, it was announced that Woodstock 50 had been canceled by investors (Dentsu Aegis Network), who had lost faith in its preparations. NPR reported on July 31, 2019, that the concert had finally been canceled after further attempts to save it.