Winter: 2007- 2008

Isn’t it lovely that GREEN is in fashion this year, that solar and wind energy is finally coming of age, that polluting petrochemical products make war but can be replaced by sustainable and recyclable cellulose based organics, that Native American elders were right about respecting the earth or else, that political corruption and unjust war is now common knowledge, that church, state and corporations need to be checked and balanced, the MLK was right we he showed us how to pull out of Vietnam and transform into a Peace economy, that natural healing remedies are often preferable and much more economical than FDA sanctioned pharmaceuticals with high-priced often fatal side effects, that babies can be birthed in a supportive, home environment and once again nursed by the Mother, that women, African-Americans and other minorities now have a voice and opportunities to get a life, that we can now be in contact anywhere via computer in the level playing field of cyberspace, Shall we rave on? Or shall we just carry on these legacies of the sixties where our eyes were first opened to these essential things?

These concepts are not retro. Woodstock the town has taken many of these legacies to heart. They represent progress about which we have no rational choice but to support and contribute.

This is part of our Woodstock notion. This is what our founding President Alf Evers was supporting when he joined with us in forming Woodstock Museum. He saw us reaching out to the world with the kind of impact Woodstock has had on the world through the arts and the progressive thinking that has resulted from attracting so many creative individuals since its founding
as an art colony in 1902

Yet even though some locals like to say “it was a small blip on the screen” and it was “the festival that didn’t happen here,” the sixties” influence in Woodstock history was a more like a big bang that was most definitely conceived in and around Woodstock as its pollen blew in on a wind from the west coast. The shops are buzzing with memorabilia of the sixties, T-shirts and bongs, CDs and clothes that fulfill a nostalgic compulsion to buy. And what do we learn from sex, drugs and rock’n roll? Or from the Woodstock Festival reunions at Saugerties and Rome, NY? As for people who want to belong to a sustainable living culture, much can be learned from the past, especially while some witnesses and participants are still around to reminisce.

According to Christopher Dean, Producer of Thursday Plantation’s Tea Tree oil (we have seen it at Sunflower) and spokesman for Woodstock’s sister village down under, Nimbin Australia, where they are still called hippies, “I believe that the seed of hippie ideas and belief system came from California, [from] the Haight-Ashbury experience. That flowered in Woodstock in a little burst! That then set up ideas and a culture and a belief system that took root in Nimbin. That’s where the seed got planted and has grown here for 30 [now 35] years. But I think it would only be very just and fitting that some of the fruits of Nimbin’s experience go back and recolonize the U.S. experience, re-enrich it, embolden it, and just show what is achievable from carrying out these ideas properly!
to get them into the mainstream where I think they belong.”

Anyone who wants to write to us here in Mexico or join us as ambassadors to Nimbin, contact hello@WoodstockMuseum.com. We leave for Australia April 15th. Neighboring town Lismore celebrates a week of Aquarius celebrations beginning April 18th. Nimbin Mardi Grass and Green Festivals take place May 3rd weekend followed by a mid-May 35th Aquarius Festival Reunion, filled with all the arts and fun celebrations.

Finally, Woodstock Museum Film Festival theme this year is FREEDOM.
Love & Peace,
Nathan Koenig
Woodstock Museum President