Woodstock: The Museum

A bus is on display at The Museum at Bethel Woods in Bethel, N.Y., Thursday, May 15, 2008. The museum, which opened on June 2, mocked by conservatives as a "hippie museum," gives a thorough look at the generation-defining concert and the noisy decade that led up to it.

Emma Cenholt, 3, of Trumbull, Conn., plays on a memorial at the site of the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair in Bethel, N.Y., May 15, 2008. The Museum at Bethel Woods, which is on the grounds of this memorial, opened June 2.

Exhibit technician Paul Heim watches a video at The Museum at Bethel Woods May 15, 2008. Interactive displays take visitors on a journey through a turbulent decade, from John F. Kennedy's White House years to the Woodstock concert that drew 400,000 young people to Max Yasgur's farm in August 1969. There are 20 films, including the old Woodstock documentary with Jimi Hendrix's soaring guitar solos.

Michael Egan poses at The Museum at Bethel Woods in Bethel, N.Y., May 15, 2008. The museum opened June 2, at the Bethel Woods concert venue, built near the original Woodstock stage area. "It's sort of a three-act play," said Egan, who is in charge of developing the museum for the not-for-profit Gerry Foundation. "We tell you the story of the '60s, the story of Woodstock and the story of the legacy of Woodstock."

Whither Woodstock? The $70 million Bethel Woods Center for the Arts opened July 1, 2006, with a classical concert (just over the hill from where Jimi Hendrix and the Who took the stage 37 years ago). The reincarnated performance venue is designed to welcome back some '60s stalwarts, though the summer schedule also features the New York Philharmonic and Ashlee Simpson.

During a weekend in mid-August 1969, the Woodstock Art and Music festival unfolded in upstate New York. Promoters wanted to have it near the town of Woodstock, but they wound up moving it to Max Yasgur's dairy farm in the hamlet of Bethel. About 450,000 people, among them the flutist and drummer shown here, turned out for the event whose name became synonymous with the turbulence and spirit of the '60s.

Resourceful Woodstock fans in August 1969 climbed a sound tower to get a better view of such legendary acts as Jimi Hendrix, the Who, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Joe Cocker, Santana, Sly and the Family Stone, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

To mark the 30th anniversary of the 1969 music fest, someone had the idea to mount the Woodstock '99 Festival. It was held in Rome, N.Y. Woodstock '99 featured more than 45 bands on four stages. It lasted three days, and about 250,000 showed up the first day alone.

Among the performers at the 1999 festival (held July 23-25) were George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic, including Bernie Worrel and Bootsy Collins. Others who showed up to play included the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jewel, Insane Clown Posse, Sheryl Crow and Megadeth.

Woodstock '99 tried hard, but Rome, N.Y., was not the original location and many of the legendary artists who performed at the '69 festival were long dead and gone. But, outside a concession area at Woodstock '99, these guys (Doug, Fast Ed and Stephen) tried to get into the spirit of things.

Michael Lang, who helped organize the original Woodstock festival in 1969, founded Woodstock '99. Here, he looks over Grifiss Airforce base in Rome, N.Y., where Woodstock '99 was held.

Plenty of music fans turned up at Woodstock '99, as is illustrated by this sea of arms festooned with green wristbands.

Roderick Plymale, who came from Elizabeth, Ky., played guitar on the campgrounds during Woodstock '99.

Oleander rocked the west stage during Woodstock '99.

Fans at Woodstock '99 in Rome, New York. The Woodstock '99 festival featured over 45 bands on four stages on July 23, 24, and 25th.

In May 2006, a worker rode on the sidewalk in front of the Woodstock-themed museum. The soaring pavilion that was christened by the New York Philharmonic on July 1, 2006, has 4,800 seats under the roof, and a lawn just beyond can accommodate another 12,000. Up a winding walkway will be an event gallery and the museum.