The Woodstockname has become more brand than spirit for many hippies, but people spanningthe generations continue to seek its aura, looking for more"authentic" ways to pay homage to the spot where it all began. Peoplelike visual artist and activist Christopher Peter Vanderessen shun"commercial" events like those held at Bethel Woods Center for theArts, where the grounds that hosted the 1969 Woodstock stage are located and ahandful of veteran acts like Santana are playing for the 50th anniversaryweekend. The 45-year-old is among those in a generation too young to reminisceabout that 1969's weekend of peace, love and music, but who value the idealsthat Woodstock came to symbolize enough to carry them on.
Wielding awalking staff etched with beaver teeth marks and wearing a long black cloakemblazoned with neon paint, he journeys each year to the forest behind the oldYasgur farmstead-also part of the sprawling original grounds that were lent toWoodstock organizers by a benevolent farmer in 1969. Scores of people camp outannually there to honor what they consider to be the original festival'sspirit. Children run wild as people of all ages dance, paint and relax inhammocks among the tall pine trees, and a number of local bands play for thecrowd.
A muddy pathflanked by greenery snakes among dozens of makeshift stands profferingcrystals, pipes, tapestries and tie-dye T-shirts with slogans like "MakeAmerica Grateful Again"-a reference to the quintessential 1960s rockersThe Grateful Dead mashed with US President Donald Trump's slogan. "This isa little different than all the other Woodstock things," the 45-year-oldtold AFP as the sun crept through the clouds, casting glimmers of light on thecolorful yarn he threaded among trees at his campsite to create an intricateweb.
"This ismore of a family reunion. It's not the commercial stuff," he said."What they don't get about Woodstock, was that it was meant to be this bigcommercial." But facing a crush of people and lack of barriers theoriginal Woodstock became free, Vanderessen recalled, "so for most of usit's a pilgrimage to come here. It's not about, 'Who is on the lineup.'""It's just that we need to be here."
Living the Woodstockstory
Those gathered inthe woods behind Yasgur's farm are decidedly younger than the crowd convened atthe Bethel center, where the beer comes from a sponsored tent rather than a newfriend's cooler. Mick and Amanda Jenkins, Pennsylvania natives who arerespectively 37 and 34, subscribe to the hippie lifestyle-what they call"ideas of non-showy simplicity"-they say their parents imparted onthem.
For Amanda, it'simportant to thread hippie principles of peace through the generations as part ofpreserving "a legacy and a story that needs to be told." "Ifsomebody is not there to tell this story, then the story dies," said thehigh school teacher, flower crown like a halo atop her wavy blonde locks andcrystals including an amethyst, a healing stone, in hand. Perched against atree nearby Michael Mahana, a three-year-old with a blonde bob, plays in themud with sticks, far from the tech-rich environments of his peers.
His mother,Californian Shronnie Jean Miller, 42, says she grew up living on the road as a"deadhead"-a groupie of the Grateful Dead who follows the band'stours-and that camping out in the woods is "like my Ritz." A localwho goes by the name "Teach" came over to give her son a child's sizeponcho in case the rains sweep in. "It's all peace and love and a goodvibe," she said. "We're all just at home in the woods."
For New Yorkstate resident Vanderessen, who in addition to web building specializes inpainting people's clothes while they're still wearing them, being a hippie issimply "being aware of social change, and being a part of the changerather than... complaining about what other people are doing. As he's done for three decades he'll be backnext year to this hippie enclave, not for nostalgia for what was but rather whathe believes could be-a more relaxed, more inclusive society. "It's aboutrespecting what was there but also showing how we're evolving andchanging," the psychedelic trance music fan who sports long dark hairsaid. "That's what Woodstock is about." "It shouldn't be aconcert, it should be a worldwide holiday." - AFP