Earth Day’s 40th in Woodstock

Members of the Woodstock Town Council and Chamber of Commerce with Bike Rack on 4/22/10
On the 40th anniversary of Earth Day members of the Town Council and Chamber of Commerce gathered to officially welcome two bright red bicycle-shaped bike racks to Woodstock. The new racks were purchased with funds raised through last summer’s Roots of Woodstock Live Concert and Eco Raffle. The racks are intended as functional sculpture—signaling to visitors and residents that Woodstock is serious about its 2007 Zero-Carbon Initiative. One rack is located in front of the Woodstock Chamber booth at 10 Rock City Road. The second is at H. Houst & Son (an Eco Raffle sponsor), 4 Mill Hill Road. In honor of the occasion publisher WoodstockArts designed a 20.4 mile bicycle route featuring “Stories of Woodstock.” Click here to download the PDF.
Other green initiatives underway in Woodstock during this 40th anniversary year include the following:
- The Chamber’s Experience Woodstock Card. Available to residents and visitors for just $25, this card is a passport to a festival of special offers at many of Woodstock’s leading shops, galleries, performance spaces and other venues in the area. Its purpose is to encourage everyone to think globally but shop locally, thereby helping Woodstock and the environment. The card is currently accessible online at the Chamber web site, as well as at Lotus Fine Art & Design (33 Rock City Road), Coldwell Banker Village Green Realty (11-13 Mill Hill Road) and Rondout Savings Bank, (295-4 Route 375, near the Hurley Ridge Market in West Hurley). Read the rest of this entry »
An Air of Magic

Ellen McIlwaine @ the Roots of Woodstock concert
“An Air of Magic—Roots of the 1969 Woodstock Festival: The Backstory to “Woodstock,” an article by David Bouton that appears in the winter 2009 issue of Kaatskill Life, offers a great review of the Roots book and concert. Bouton begins with, “[The festival] happened here in the Catskill Mountains. It did not take place at Berkeley, or in the Golden Gate Park near San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury. The historic, famous, somewhat spontaneous Woodstock peace, music and arts festival of 1969 in the Catskills was not a fluke either in its nature or its location. Yes, the event eventually was held in Bethel, NY, 70 miles away, but the festival is and forever will be called “Woodstock,” reflecting its origins, its geographical location, its nature, and inherent outlook and attitude: that of the community of Woodstock, NY.”
Bike Racks Will Aid Woodstock’s Zero-Carbon Quest

Bike racks to be purchased for Woodstock
Forty years ago the ’69 Woodstock festival triggered many new trends. One such, the back-to-the-land movement, helped bring eco-consciousness to the forefront. The following year Earth Day was created. In March 2007 the Town of Woodstock passed a Zero-Carbon Initiative, pledging to neutralize Woodstock’s carbon footprint by 2017.
In a nod to these go-green efforts, the 8/15/09 Roots of Woodstock Live Concert was designated a Zero-Carbon fundraiser. This 40th anniversary tie-in event, held at Woodstock’s Bearsville Theater, included an Eco Raffle with prizes contributed by a dozen of Woodstock’s leading businesses. Monies raised were to be used for the purchase of Energy Star refrigerators or bicycle parking racks.
Given the relatively modest amount raised by the raffle in this challenging economy ($1,166), the concert producers together with the Woodstock Environmental Commission (WEC) have determined that the money should be used for bike racks. The Town of Woodstock plans to purchase four racks, and the Roots producers will buy several more with the raffle proceeds. David Lewis of the WEC has offered to coordinate placement of the racks throughout the town.
Roots Take by New York Rocker
When we were invited to spend the Woodstock Festival’s 40th anniversary weekend at our friends’ home in Woodstock itself (actually Bearsville, a few miles west on Route 212), I checked the local gig schedule and saw that former Howlin’ Wolf guitarist Hubert Sumlin would be appearing at the Bearsville Theater on Saturday night. Hubert turns 78 this November and it seemed an opportune moment to hear one of the last surviving originators of Chicago electric blues. Only when we saw the flyers posted around town did I discover that Hubert was but one of four acts on the show.
Also appearing were a local local gospel-infused jam band called Children of God, the 2009 version of the Blues Magoos (!), and the folk-blues singer/guitarist Ellen McIlwaine. Read the rest of this entry »

