On this day, December 15, 1919, Max Yasgur was born.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Wed Dec 16, 2020, 08:58 AM - Edit history (1)

Hat tip, This Day in Rock

Max Yasgur


Max Yasgur at the Woodstock Festival in 1969 which was held on part of his dairy farm in Bethel, New York

Born: Max B. Yasgur; December 15, 1919; New York City, New York, U.S.
Died; February 9, 1973 (aged 53); Marathon, Florida, U.S.


Max Yasgur's Farm (1999) 27 Yasgur Rd, Cochecton, NY 12726, USA

Max B. Yasgur (December 15, 1919 – February 9, 1973) was an American farmer. He was the owner of the 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York, at which the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was held between August 15 and August 18, 1969.

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Personal life and dairy farming

Yasgur was born in New York City to Russian Jewish immigrants Samuel and Bella Yasgur. He was raised with his brother Isidore (1926-2010) on the family's farm (where his parents also ran a small hotel) and attended New York University, studying real estate law. By the late 1960s, he was the largest milk producer in Sullivan County, New York. His farm had 650 cows, mostly Guernseys.

At the time of the festival in 1969, Yasgur was married to Miriam (Mimi) Gertrude Miller Yasgur (1920–2014) and had a son, Sam (1942–2016) and daughter Lois (1944–1977). His son was an assistant district attorney in New York City at the time.

In later years, it was revealed that Yasgur was in fact a conservative Republican who supported the Vietnam War. Nevertheless, he felt that the Woodstock festival could help business at his farm and also tame the generation gap. Despite claims that he showed disapproval towards the treatment of the counterculture movement, this has not been confirmed. Woodstock promoter Michael Lang, who considered Yasgur to be his "hero," stated that Yasgur was "the antithesis" of what the Woodstock festival stood for. Yasgur's early death prevented him from answering questions about why the festival took place.

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Max Yasgur - Woodstock
2,389 views•Apr 22, 2020

Mark Pitta
1.2K subscribers

It was his dairy farm and he delivered a perfect speech. This takes on new meaning as I post this during the pandemic.

Well, I came upon a child of God
He was walking along the road
And I asked him,Tell where are you going?
This he told me

Said, I'm going down to Yasgur's Farm,
Gonna join in a rock and roll band.
Got to get back to the land and set my soul free.

[Chorus]
We are stardust, we are golden,
We are billion year old carbon,
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.

{snip}

Written by: Joni Mitchell

Source: https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/741420/So+Far/Woodstock

Woodstock 1969 - Crosby, Nash and Stills
9,124 views•Jul 15, 2020

FM Underground 902
587 subscribers

David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash formed a loose group in 1968 after the demise of their former bands. After their first album was released in May 1969 (simply called Crosby, Stills & Nash) Neil Young joined them, too. Though the quartet was incredibly successful, the musicians rather paid attention to their individual solo careers.

Luckily the formation of CSN&Y made it to Woodstock, too. It was only their second gig[1] and they were quite nervous on stage. Stephen Stills remarked: "This is the second time we've ever played in front of people, man. We're scared shitless."

The group played separate acoustic and electric sets. Neil Young joined them in the middle of the acoustic set. They performed in the night from Sunday to Monday, the start time is supposed to be 3:00 am. woodstock.fandom.com
Music in this video

[Laffy Kat]

1. Wow. Interesting.

A pro-war, Republican conservative? I guess it did immortalize his name.

[appalachiablue]

2. Max was a good guy, more than alright, even if a Republican.

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. Great party, dude...

[underpants]

4. I didn't know he only lived 4 more years

I grew up hearing how much he hated what they did to his farm. Yeah there was somehow a propaganda machine back then. Seems like a nice guy. Yeah it had been wet.

[PJMcK]

5. Bethel Woods is about 15 minutes from our mountain house

The summer before last (2019) was the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival. Disappointingly, a memorial concert that was in the works failed to launch.

However, the local area went all out anyway to highlight the historical event. They informally renamed NYS Route 17-B (where the dairy barn of Yasgur's Farm still stands) as The Woodstock Way. There are psychedelically painted statues of the Woodstock Bird in every town, village and hamlet. Peace signs can be seen everywhere. Until the pandemic, the Arts Centre had a wonderful series of concerts. The venue is much like Tanglewood, Wolf Trap or Ravinia and entertains thousands of people.

In the field in front of Yasgur's Farm is a 25-foot statue of Joe Cocker playing air guitar. There's a rumor that he invented air guitar on stage at Woodstock. Watch the documentary film to see what I mean.

The Bethel Woods Center for the Arts has a terrific little museum about the Festival. It's designed to set the mood of the 1960s, socially/politically/internationally and it explains how the concert came to be and how it came off. There are lots of wonderful details including a hippy-painted VW camper, the Wurlitzer electric piano played by Sha-Na-Na and many other exhibits from the 3-day event.

There were two deaths during the Festival. One person died of a drug overdose and an 18-year old from New Jersey (I think) was asleep in a field when a tractor hauling porta-potties drove over him. In spite of the huge crowd of about 400,000, there weren't any serious bouts of violence. Marijuana is a great mellower, eh?

One particular highlight relates to Mr. Yasgur. When the Woodstock producers approached him about renting his farm for the concert, he had to go before the local zoning committees to justify his decision and get the pertinent permissions. I can't find his speech to the local officials but let me liberally paraphrase his comments which are displayed at the museum.

He said that while he's a law & order Republican and he doesn't like the free love attitude of the young people in the '60s, he didn't approve of their drug use or the liberal politics of the younger generation, (he was only in his late 40s!), "the boys fighting over in Viet Nam are protecting all of our rights. These youngsters should be allowed to hold their concert."

When the event became almost too large to contain, the local communities stepped up and provided free food and beverages for the concert-goers who expected there to be provisions for sale. One local lady I've met said she made over 2,000 PB&Js!

If anyone wants to visit the area, it is well worth your time. This is the Lower Catskills and the Upper Delaware River and it's spectacularly beautiful and comfortable. There are hotels, motels, B'N'Bs and private rentals. The mountains can be hiked and the lakes have lots of activities. The golf is superior!

By it's nature, this is a socially distance environment. It's remarkably affordable. And it's beautiful!

[Walleye]

6. It was the perfect setting. Natural amphitheater. I was far away from the stage but the music sounde

Yasgur, Born in 1919, same as my father, who reminded me that they were actually the first baby boom and we are a result of that. Hopefully there will be no more baby booms, because it seems like they follow world wars.