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WOODSTOCK: A NEW NATION part 3Book excerpt from "Aquarius Rising" by Robert Santelli Meanwhile Michael Lang had been roaming through Sullivan County, New York, on his motorcycle in search of a new site. He had come across a dairy farmer by the name of Max Yasgur, who owned a six-hundred-acre farm with an adjoining four hundred acres of pasture and woodland. The farm was located at White Lake in the town of Bethel. Yasgur had worked his dairy farm since 1948 and had been responsible for supplying a large segment of Sullivan County with its dairy needs. Yasgur took an interest in young people. In 1968 he had leased a portion of his property to the Boy Scouts of America for their annual National Jamboree, and things had gone well. He had heard about the problems the music festival faced in Wallkill, and when Lang approached him, he invited the promoters to inspect the farm and talk business. Lang called the festival headquarters in New York and told Roberts and the others to drive to Bethel as soon as possible. The town was seventy miles north of New York City, and when Roberts and a lawyer got there, they found a warm and amicable farmer who expressed sincere interest in seeing the festival occur in Sullivan County. He was also sincerely interested in seeing a load of cash before the deal was concluded. Yasgur told the promoters he would rent his farm for the weekend of August 15 for $50,000 plus an additional $75,000 that was to be put in escrow to cover any damages to the farm or his herd. He also listed three demands that had to be met before he signed the contract: (1) Woodstock Ventures must obey the zoning ordinances of the town of Bethel; (2) the festival plans must be approved by the local board of health and police department; and (3) Woodstock Ventures must agree to limit the number of people that would attend to forty thousand. Max Yasgur drove a hard bargain. The price was steep, but the promoters had little choice. The $50,000 that Yasgur demanded was five times as high as the amount asked for by John Mills. Time was running short. If they declined Yasgur's offer, who knew whether another site could be found? And if they had to come back to Yasgur after turning him down the first time, what would prevent him from raising the rental fee higher and adding to his list of demands? Yasgur had the promoters over a barrel; they were going to pay his fee and do things his way or they weren't going to do it at all. The promoters knew they could never limit attendance to forty thousand people, since they had already sold fifty thousand tickets. But Yasgur did not seem to be truly concerned with that demand as long as the others were met and the money paid. Therefore, the promoters kept the ticket sales low key. Yasgur had promised to use his influence in acquiring zoning and board of health approval (he was the town's wealthiest and most popular citizen). When unhappy residents planned a boycott of Yasgur's dairy products, Yasgur calmly explained to them the value of having the festival staged in their town. He spoke of how the festival would inject life into a dying local economy and pointed to the various commercial facilities that had been doing poorly in the last few years. He promised the locals that the festival would put Bethel back on the map and hinted that a bristling tourist trade might result. The locals now thought twice about a Yasgur boycott. Maybe he was right. The town did need something to revitalize it. Perhaps the festival was just the thing. The town backed Yasgur's decision to rent his land to the Woodstock promoters, and the festival was set to go.
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