Published in the Daily Gazette - January 5, 2003

December 9, 2002

Letters to the Editor:

It was with great interest that I read the Editorial “Endangered Species” by Keith Cramer in the Sunday, December 8th Gazette. 

There is another site in New York State that is in grave danger.  It is the site of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Festival in the Town of Bethel, Sullivan County, NY.

Woodstock remains one of the largest cultural and historical events in history.  Since 1969 countless visitors have come from all over the world to visit the site where the Festival occurred.  They come even though there is no promotion of the site whatsoever, nor are there signs pointing the way.  

The land is currently owned by the Gerry Foundation, which proposes to build a Performing Arts Center in the Town of Bethel.  They had originally said they would not build on the 38 acres of the original Woodstock site but on the 1500 acres adjacent to or surrounding the site.  The quote was made, “Would you build a shopping mall where Washington crossed the Delaware?”   Well, apparently the Gerry Foundation would, because they’ve now changed their plans and are proposing to build “core activity buildings” on the original site. 

For more than 33 years this field, with its simple marker erected with private funds, has stood as a monument to peace and a tribute to a generation that came of age in the turbulent 60’s.  So many defining moments took place during that period.  The Viet Nam War, the civil rights movement, the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and Martin Luther King, Jr., and the shootings of college students by National Guardsmen at Kent State. 

The Woodstock Preservation Alliance is fighting to preserve the Woodstock site in its current state for future generations to continue to enjoy as a place where 500,000 gathered for 3 days of Peace & Music.   The Woodstock Preservation Alliance has more information on their website at: http://www.thewoodstockspirit.org/ 

Jim Cook,
Board of Directors

Woodstock Preservation Alliance