Woodstock, NY: now
IT is the 40th anniversary of “Woodstock.”
This painting is the Woodstock Green. The actual town of Woodstock, Ulster County, NY as it looks today. Woodstock has become iconic. Yet it is still a town in the Catskill Mountains, it is not in Bethel where the festival happened. Even though the actual festival didn’t happen IN Woodstock, it was the spirit of Woodstock that created the festival and made it the big event it was. And continues to be.
The Woodstock Nation still gathers in the town green in Woodstock. Kids and adults! There’s a sign on the dinner window “Hippies Welcome”. There are drum circles in the Village Green on holidays, music, events, lots of fun continues to happen in Woodstock! What makes Woodstock so special is its continued sense of COMMUNITY. And an underlying devotion to the arts. Woodstock was founded as an artist colony around 1902. It continues to be a destination for artists and tourists. For the locals, there are land grants where you can walk for miles. And they’re very friendly, even dog friendly, provided your dogs are friendly! Mine are socialized, living between NYC and Woodstock. Here’s the “Woodstock Town Green” on a hot summer morning. The big tree is gone, as are Jim Power’s sculptures in front of Pondicherry (update: he and his dog have been sleeping on the street on my block in NYC:-(, and the owner of Pondicherry was one of the judges who told me they don’t accept computer-generated work. Attempts to explain were considered “too intense”. Time moves on, meanwhile, here’s the Woodstock Green at 8am in July, 2008.