Just a few weeks after the moon landing, about half a million young people landed on an upstate New York farm for "An Aquarian Exposition"...now known as one of the most important cultural events of the late 1960s: Woodstock.

The story behind the festival is told in Bob Spitz's Barefoot in Babylon, and it's a nearly-unbelievable sequence of events that makes you wonder how four guys actually pulled the whole thing together. The gates opened on Friday, August 15, and the original 200,000 ticket holders were eventually joined by so many others that the concerts were declared free and the New York State Thruway had to be shut down because of incoming traffic.

All weekend, attendees were treated to unforgettable performances by, among others, Richie Havens, Joan Baez, Santana, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Who, The Band, and Jimi Hendrix. They endured rain, mud, medical emergencies, a scarcity of food and drinks, and lost cars...and came away with a lifetime of memories.

This weekend, we're presenting the Academy Award-winning documentary Woodstock, Saturday evening at 7. Barefoot in Babylon author Bob Spitz will join us to introduce the film! We also have a discussion of Woodstock Revisited, a new oral history of the event, on Sunday afternoon at 2. Join us for two very special events to commemorate 40 years of peace and music!

(Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs on Thorndal Circle, behind Nielsen's.)