the last bedraggled fan sloshed out of max yasgurs muddy pasture more than 25 years ago. thats when the debate began about woodstocks historical significance. true believers still call woodstock the capstone of an era devoted to human advancement. cynics say it was a fitting, ridiculous end to an era of naivete. then there are those who say it was just a hell of a party.
the woodstock music and art fair in 1969 drew more than 450,000 people to a pasture in sullivan county. for four days, the site became a countercultural mini-nation in which minds were open, drugs were all but legal and love was free. the music began friday afternoon at 507pm august 15 and continued until mid-morning monday august 18. the festival closed the new york state thruway and created one of the nations worst traffic jams. it also inspired a slew of local and state laws to ensure that nothing like it would ever happen again.
woodstock, like only a handful of historical events, has beco...