Peace, love, music, health care, and irony at the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival

Abstract

Myron Gittell’s 2009 book, Woodstock ’69: Three Days of Peace, Music, and Medical Care, is a compelling treatise referencing health care at Woodstock. Gittell’s work partially informs this article about the iconic 1969 Woodstock Music Festival. About 400,000 people attended the concert, though organizers had initially planned for only 50,000. Helicopter surveillance preceding the festival revealed that thousands of spectators had already arrived. Directors realized they had the potential for one of the “greatest human tragedies in modern times” and marshaled local authorities, health care providers, local townspeople, the US Army, and an eccentric outfit from New Mexico known as the Hog Farmers, whose extraordinary efforts averted public health disaster. Drug overdoses presented problems but humane management by the Hog Farmers was exquisitely successful. Two deaths occurred and 3000 first aid visits were recorded. One captivating aspect of Woodstock was a film interview with the gentleman who cleaned the portable toilets. This 3-minute dialogue portrayed, unexpectedly and in unusual fashion, Woodstock’s sociological complexities. The release, in 2018, of yet another high-profile film depicting Woodstock, and the bountiful journalistic efforts that ensued in the summer of 2019 reminiscing upon Woodstock’s 50th anniversary, remind us of society’s abiding fascination with this event.

Keywords:

• Aquarius
• Hog Farmers
• Myron Gittell
• Port-O-San Man
• Wavy Gravy
• William Abruzzi
• Woodstock Music Festival

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

David Pacini, PhD, and Sally Wolff-King, PhD, both of Emory University, provided valuable editorial insight for this manuscript. Myron Gittell, RN, EMT, reviewed this paper and generously offered suggestions.