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ROCKFEST ARCHIVE INDEX
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EXCERPT ON THE 1970 POWDER RIDGE ROCK FESTIVAL FROM “AQUARIUS RISING: THE ROCK FESTIVAL YEARS” BY ROBERT SANTELLI, 1980 On Friday, July 30, just before dusk, Louis Zemel, one of the ski resort owners, took the previously built stage, bullhorn in hand, and tried to persuade the young people to go home since the festival was now an impossibility. Amid shouts, catcalls, and boos, he described the implications of the court order that prohibited the occurrence of the event. He told the crowd that it was not his fault the festival was dead. The promoters were the ones who had caused the mess, and the townspeople, well, they were just not sure they wanted so many young people roaming their community. There were shouts that the festivalgoers planned to stay at the ski resort for the remainder of the summer. Cries of support came from the crowd. Someone yelled to the resort owner that elections would be held for Powder Ridge's first "freak mayor" tomorrow morning. Zemel left the stage unsure of his next move. Dr. William Abruzzi, the physician who was to be in charge of the medical facilities at Powder Ridge and who was known by many as "the Woodstock doctor" for his role at that festival, took the stage next. When he introduced himself, the crowd rose to their feet. "We intend to run a medical facility as long as you need us. We will keep this thing going. We'll have a medical facility, and we will keep the music going as long as we aren't carried out by people in blue uniforms." A spirit of defiance and brotherhood swept through the crowd. Stick together, man, and we'll make our own festival and our own music. The word was solidarity.  Captialism at Powder Ridge. Photo by UPI But maybe there was going to be a real festival after all. A deal had been struck with a couple of Mister Softee ice cream vendors. In exchange for power generated from their trucks, they would be permitted to sell their ice cream to "the people." Melanie, the only signed performer to show up at Powder Ridge, wanted to play for the crowd. After Bill Hanley of Hanley Sound instructed his people to ready the stage for her performance, he was arrested and charged with contempt of court. But Melanie played, to the delight of those gathered on the main slope. She sang of the beautiful people gathered at Powder Ridge, and the crowd applauded with heightened enthusiasm. In between songs she told of how she was proud to play her music under such pressing conditions. Rumors spread through the crowd that Sly and the Family Stone were backstage and preparing to go on. The excitement grew and people nudged closer to the front of the stage. But after Melanie had sung every song she knew, only a couple of local bands took the stage. Still it was music, and it gave many hope that more performers would show up on the following two days. (Melanie, by the way, was never arrested for playing at Powder Ridge; even though she was a signed performer, she was never paid, and the state doubted whether they had a case against her.) No other artists risked a run-in with the law, however. The only other music heard throughout the weekend was the sound of car stereo systems and the makeshift noise of acoustic guitars, harmonicas, tambourines, and stoned-out campers singing in the night. Because of the prolific use of so many drugs, the scene was incredible and ugly at the same time. Near the pond, young people gathered to swim nude and wash their clothes and eating utensils until it became so polluted that people actually got sick from the water.
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