Naw that
would be too easy.... OK, Here is how it really all began,
as best as I can recall:
In 1994 and 95 the Woodstock reunions were going full force, there was no opposition to our gatherings. In 96 all of that changed, the Original Woodstock site was blocked by New York State Troopers, The origin of this blockade was not clear at that time. We had two organizations prominent in the fight to keep the Woodstock Site FREE, The Save the Earth Society and the Woodstock Nation Foundation. It was unfortunate, as I found in my visits with my friends who created these organizations, and others who have shown an interest in keeping the Woodstock site free, that even though their goals were similar, they were not working together.
1997 brought word of who was attempting to squash the Woodstockers from the site. The Newspapers named Allen Gerry as the person who bought the Woodstock Site and much of the land around it, His goal was to create a “Theme Park” with the land, and start holding his own event called “A Day In The Garden”. The Woodstock Nation Foundation made an attempt to challenge that ownership by setting up camp on the site. They were arrested, their tent confiscated, and they were ordered by the Bethel Judge to stay off the site for one year.
In 1998, It was time to attempt to unite the powers that may save the Woodstock site. What today is known as the Woodstock Preservation Alliance, slowly evolved in the spring of 1998 as a unnamed group including Will Callighan, Abigail Storm, Dan Eggink, Joe Anderson, Vern Squires, Rosyman, Myself and several others, mostly from the Rainbow Nation. Our first meetings began from Full Moon Festivals and “Micro-Gatherings”. We used email to set the dates, some of us got the word by phone or by a page on one of our web sites, Usually on a Friday or Saturday, we would all come to the Woodstock site and discuss what we had all learned and what we could do to save the site. In the spring we were not harassed to leave at dark or stopped from building a fire, some of us would spend the night, with a wonderful drum circle and Tunes from Rosyman, It was almost as good as a August Gathering.
Good times would not last forever, our meetings continued on the Site until July of 98. The beginning of the destruction of the site to create the Day In The Garden was underway. Ditches were dug to keep cars from entering the site, signs posted to keep off the land, and eventually fences, Security patrols and high intensity lights shown on the field all night long. It was impossible to hold our Micro-Gatherings at the site. Fortunately we had good friends just down the road, Roy Howard and Jeryl Abramson, who had been kind enough to host the August gatherings since 1996 when we could no longer gather on the Site. We began meeting at Roy & Jeryl’s farm. Still called Micro Gatherings, we could now gather without being interrupted by Troopers or Gerry Foundation’s security people.
Sickened by the destruction going on the site, it was time to act, We needed all the support we could get to save the site, We initially called ourselves “Friends Of The Farm Alliance” and on my Web server, Our first meeting inviting any and all interested people was held on Yasgar Road near Roy & Jeryl’s home. It was a small group but we managed to get the organization rolling.
We changed the name to “The Friends Of Yasgur’s Farm” to give us a better identification of our goal. And set a schedule of events and meetings in an attempt to return our Woodstock site back to its original state. From this meeting we set the Logo to the one above, the original artwork was done by Fin and Jewel Eggink and permission granted by Dan Eggink to use it as our Logo. We came up with a general statement of what we were about:
FRIENDS OF
YASGURS FARM:
An assembly of people
working together
to perpetuate the
Spirit of Woodstock
