Updates from Wallkill, Woodstock; meeting Tuesday

Sunday, June 15, 1969

Went to Wallkill and Woodstock today, a nice drive up the Thruway, for sure.

In Wallkill the town isn’t feeling too heavy about this show. Howard Mills Jr., who leased the land to Woodstock Venures, told me he’s hearing complaints from neighbors at church. They don’t want hippie folk and young kids running rabid around Wallkill. The town seems to think the 20,000 or so ballparked by Ventures is nowhere near what might come to see a folk concert. They are advertising in the Times, you know.

Woodstock Ventures is doing what they can to alleviate the worries. They hired the Rev. Donald Ganoung to head up public relations. Makes sense, since Wallkill isn’t quite hip to the guys, especially Lang and Kornfeld, two hippie-looking kids if there ever were.

More in Woodstock: Trying to get a word with anyone who can get a word with Bob Dylan. Lang and Co. want him at the festival. Word is Creedence Clearwater Revival should be locked up any day now. Also talk about the Jefferson Airplane, maybe the biggest rock band this side of the Beatles. (By the way, their new song “The Ballad of John and Yoko,” is pretty groovy.

They switched my days off to Wednesday and Thursday, which makes sense given the proposed dates for this concert being Friday, Aug. 15, Saturday, Aug. 16 and Sunday, Aug. 17. And the town meetings are Tuesdays. So I’ll be going Tuesday since there might be some hubbub about the festival.

Now it’s Sunday dinner at the folks’. Got a new show tonight we might sit down to watch – it’s called “Hee Haw.” Sounds real country folk.