The iconic Woodstock Festival is due for a 50th-anniversary celebration in 2019, and it seems as though moves are being made by both the tentative festival grounds and the state of New York. As reported by The Poughkeepsie Journal, the not-for-profit Bethel Woods Center for the Arts—a 2,000-acre site that includes Woodstock’s original grounds in 1969—recently received $689,063 for a three-day festival from New York’s Regional Economic Development Council. This money comes in addition to $28,225, which will be used for on-site improvements, including a stage, sound towers, performers’ bridge, and scenic overlook on the famous festival grounds.
Woodstock Site Added To National Register Of Historic Places
The state’s interest in helping ensure the success of such an event is bolstered by the economic growth and tourism it would bring to the area. However, as JamBase points out, it is still unclear whether Michael Lang—one of the leading organizers of the original Woodstock festival, Woodstock ’94, and the disastrous Woodstock ’99—will be involved. Given Woodstock ’99 primary reputation for the widespread accounts of violence and fire throughout the event, New York throwing money at improving infrastructure for a potential anniversary festival would be unsurprising and could be read as a means to ensure Woodstock ’19 doesn’t involve a similar fate.
[H/T JamBase]