You don’t have to be a fan of classic rock to know about Woodstock, which happened in New York in 1969. Less than a year after that legendary event though, another massive music festival happened in Middle Georgia, inspiring a generation of self-proclaimed hippies in the midstate.
In August 1969, more than 400,000 people showed up for Woodstock, a music festival on a 600-acre dairy farm near Woodstock, New York.
“Smoking. Taking drugs. Everything,” says Brenda Russell.
Russell graduated from Pulaski County’s Hawkinsville High School in 1967.
“They said we were the first Hippies in Hawkinsville,” Russell recalls.
She didn’t make it to Woodstock. But months after that cultural landmark, another music festival came to her.
Promoted as “three days of peace, love and music,” the Atlanta International Pop Festival was held in July 1970 on a pecan farm in Byron, Georgia. A three-day ticket cost just $14. See more at WGXA.
