Yasgur's Farm
Max Yasgur, a Republican dairy farmer in Bethel who rented out his alfalfa field five weeks before the festival when nobody else would. The neighbours who sued him, the speech he gave from the stage, and the field itself.
Part of Woodstock
10 moments in this segment.
- - Building the stage at Bethel. Footage of the 1969 stage construction on Yasgur's farm, the crew race that ran right up to the opening day.
- - Mountain - Complete Woodstock Set. Mountain had played only a handful of shows before Woodstock. Their set included 'For Yasgur's Farm', named for the festival's host.
- - Max Yasgur Addresses the Crowd. The dairy farmer whose land hosted the festival tells the crowd they have proved that half a million young people can gather for three days with nothing but fun and music.
- - Max Yasgur at Woodstock. Archival footage of Yasgur's stage appearance, from a channel that archives the festival's tapes.
- - Max Yasgur's farm. The Bethel dairy farm whose fields Max Yasgur rented to the organisers after Wallkill refused a permit. A modern photograph taken in 1999, thirty years after the festival.
- - Yasgur Farm dairy sign in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A Yasgur Farm dairy sign displayed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, photographed in December 2014. Museum object, not a 1969 photograph.
- - Sam Yasgur on his father and the farm. Sam Yasgur, son of Max Yasgur, gives a full lecture at the Robert H. Jackson Center on how the family came to host the festival.
- - Max Yasgur, the unexpected champion. PBS clip on the Bethel dairy farmer who, five weeks before the festival, agreed to host it on his land after the Wallkill rejection.
- - Walking the Yasgur farm site today. A visit to the Bethel field where the festival was staged, tracing the natural bowl that made the site work.
- - What hosting the festival cost Max Yasgur. Account of the Bethel dairy farmer who leased 500 acres expecting 40,000 people, and the local fallout that followed.
