Woodstock: Memories from a PSAI Member
Woodstock Music and Art Fair 1969
Even today, 55 years later, “Woodstock” ranks as one of the largest music festivals of its time. This event captured the spirit of the late ‘60s—rock and roll music, the “hippie culture,” free expression, drugs, anti-war protests, and the list goes on. This 3-day event was expected to draw some 50,000 paid attendees with 32 of the most popular acts of that time and, yes, portable sanitation was included in the planning.
See poster image at right: The music at Woodstock ran the gamut—from British Invasion bands like The Who to folkies like Joan Baez and Arlo Guthrie and from “yacht rock” like Crosby Stills Nash & Young to funk/soul of Sly & the Family Stone.
Bill Reynolds, Jr., shared his memories of his father’s company (Johnny On The Spot in Model City, New York) agreeing to provide their Big John Units for this event. Bill states that “these wooden units were 24 feet long with 5 doors (stalls) down each side and a urinal room at the end. The Big John was winched up onto a flatbed truck for delivery and winched down from the truck at the proper location on site. The units were painted blue with white doors.”
Above: Big John’s blue and white units in the background. (As countless eyewitness reports attested, you could see almost anything at Woodstock and horses were no exception!)
In the original contract dated July 30, 1969, Johnny On the Spot proposed 36 of these structures and the event organizer lowered the number to 30. Michael Lang was one of the organizers and he, along with his staff, were planning on 50,000 paid attendees and no more. The contract stated that “10 additional Big Johns will be in Sullivan County ready for immediate delivery when and if needed.”
Above: A portion of the original contract with Johnny On The Spot
The plan was made; what could possibly go wrong?
The estimated 50,000 attendees EXPLODED to somewhere between 460,000 and 500,000! To make matters even more challenging, rain and thunderstorms blew in on both Saturday and Sunday!
Woodstock became a free event as the tremendous crowd overwhelmed the ticket booths, knocking down fences and creating other areas on this 600-acre dairy farm which were well outside the designated spaces to view this event.
Here are a few facts associated with this iconic event courtesy of The Musicians Hall of Fame Museum (musicianshalloffame.com – May 22, 2019)
- Festival organizers hired helicopters to fly in food and water to reach the hundreds of thousands of attendees.
- Canadian band Lighthouse backed out of the festival due to concerns over safety and … ahem… toiletry space.
- Some attendees claim they waited in line for hours to use restroom facilities. Something tells us some of them couldn’t hold it that long.
- Rumor has it that jugs of homemade wine were passed around freely.
- Tens of thousands of vehicles of guests were parked as far as 20 miles away from the site of the festival.
- The famous nine-mile traffic jam really did occur, and it really was as bad as it sounds, according to witnesses.
- The U.S. Army airlifted thousands of pounds of food, water, and medical supplies to the anti-Vietnam War crowds throughout the duration of the festival.
- Gov. Nelson Rockefeller declared the area a state of emergency to facilitate the delivery of supplies to the hundreds of thousands of attendees.
In the photo, Notice the blue and white Big Johns in the lower right corner and some of the massive crowd in the distance. Imagine a panoramic photo of this area!
Bill concludes, “my dad said that there were no hard feelings with any of the vendors for this incredible event. Everyone did the best that they could do, given the circumstances. In fact, my dad and I were invited to attend the Woodstock 25th Anniversary Event in 1994 and we were able to meet with Michael Lang again and to share memories. A lot had changed in our world and in our industry in 25 years.”
Above left: Michael Lang, co-organizer of Woodstock, in 1969 at the event—riding a motorcycle. Above right: Lang standing between Bill Reynolds, Sr., and Bill Reynolds, Jr., in 1994 at the Woodstock 25th Anniversary Celebration.
Epilogue
In 2017, the festival site—originally the dairy land of farmer Max Yasgur—was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Final Thoughts and a Preview of the Next Story
After Woodstock, the need for adequate event planning took on a major focus. Portable sanitation was becoming an integral part of this process, as was the need for adequate numbers of units to meet demand based on crowd size.
In a future Industry Artifacts, we will again cover the Woodstock Festival but from the standpoint of Woodstock: The Movie from 1970. A second portable restroom company, although they had a lesser role, had one of their service technicians featured in the film!
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