Arts & Entertainment

Woodstock 50 Festival Officially Canceled

Court battles, permit denials and artist cancellations led to the festival's demise.

Original lineup list for the 1969 Woodstock Festival from the "Revolution" exhibit at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 2017.
Original lineup list for the 1969 Woodstock Festival from the "Revolution" exhibit at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 2017. (Michael Woyton/Patch Staff)

You can put the tie-dyed shirts and the bong made out of a potato away. The Woodstock 50 festival, which had hoped to celebrate the 50 year anniversary of the 1969 festival, has been officially canceled.

The golden anniversary of Woodstock was to have taken place Aug. 16-18 in Watkins Glen, but court battles, permit denials and artist cancellations led organizer Michael Lang, an Ulster County resident, to formally pull the plug, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported.

Over recent days, such artists as Jay-Z, Santana, Miley Cyrus and 1969 festival performers County Joe McDonald and John Sebastian announced their departures from the lineup.

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Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, the site of the original Woodstock festival is hosting events marking the anniversary, featuring concerts by Ringo Starr, John Fogerty and Santana.

Read the complete Poughkeepsie Journal article written by John Barry.

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