Rekindling Wo dstock`s spirit - Inside UW

Friday , Augus t 12, 1994
Rekindling Wo dstock's spirit
The music fest sparks adventure for some
maries for others
/
By Terry Anderson
Press-Gazette
When Woodstock The Sequel begins today, some Green Bay area
residents will be there and others
will remember the original gathering .
" We' v e been talking about
Woodsto ck for two month s
straight," says Dianne Walker of
Green Bay, who left for Saugerties,
N.Y., Wednesday with her boy-
friend , Ryan Metzner, and another
couple.
Walker doesn't expect Woodstock, The Next Generation, to be
a repeat of 1969.
"It's going to be 100 percent different than the first," said Walker,
noting the omnipresent marketing
and planning for this event.
"There's no way our generation
will be able to express our personality the way the first one did."
Walker a nd friends will b
camped out in a tent city and are
prepared for hot, rainy weather.
She estimates tickets, food and
other items will bring the cost to
about $250 per person.
"I 'm looking forward to Peter
Gabriel a n d Santana. LIVEl
Ryan's looking forward to the Red
Hot Chili Pepp ers," she says. ''I'm
not looking forwa rd to the rain
and not showering."
Lloyd and Ilene Noppe f De
1 e memories of
Woodstock '69.
"I'm glad to keep the memories,
but we were there under bizarre
circumstances," she recalls. "It
was like being in a Fellini movie."
Back in August 1969, they were
counselors at Camp Willoway in
northern Pennsylvania. A camp
leader had the notion that it might
be fun to take the 12- to If-year-old
campers to the Woodstock Mus ic
and Arts Fai r .
Expect ing a quaint folk a nd art
festival, ca mp supervisors had no
idea what they were headed for as
seve ral yellow school buses loaded
with 125 kids rolled into Woodstock.
"We' re barrelin g down t he New
York Throughway singing ZOO Bot-
Please see Woodstock/B-2
o
oodstock
ti of Beer on The Wall and the
Camp Willoway song."
,; :rhen they arrived at Max Yas!J\i.r:s farm in the middle of the
'Oodstock Nation.
; 'We were young and pretty
Cl~ancut kids and I remember all of
$ese people staring at us and
we're staring at them," she says .
•r. alf our kids thought it was the
5eatest. The other half totally
fgeped out and were upset."
"he Willoway campers pitched
tfleir tents in a cow pasture on the
~e of the scene. The muggy,
g100my night was punctuated by a
~rocious thunderstorm. When
they awoke, the cows had settled
in.: among the plastic tents.
; Meanwhile, hysterical parents
hearing news reports of the Wood~ck gathering lit up the switchQ'Oard at Camp Willoway.
< 'We were supposed to be there
ree days, but I think we were
there for just 24 hours," she says.
'~qy husband and I (it was a summ~r-camp romance that lasted)
liated to leave."
:::Noppe says her campers had abo
oo'utely no problems with the hun~s of thousands of "freaks" at
the ' music fest. "It was amazing
tl\:at under those bizarre circumsfance everyone was peaceful and
f .endly and helping each other
oqt."
:'But Nappe and her husband
"
,#0
aren't interested in reliving that
time.
"It was 25 years ago and a time
with a very easy spirit. Who wants
, to see a bunch of middle-age people
reclaiming the past? Some memories are better left as memories."
Then there are those looking to create their own memories.
Scott Johnson and his three roommates barreled through the
night Thursday in a Pontiac Grand
Am, hoping to capture some of that
historical aura. They intended to
travel in a Volkswagen minibus,
"but the bus just wouldn't make
it."
The foursome hopes to arrive
this afternoon in time to set up
their tent before some of the big
names take to the stage.
"I guess I don't know what to expect. We have been preparing ourselves," said Johnson, a counselor
a n ppleto
ea
u hom .
"A couple of us have bleached our
hair and the other guys are going
to braid their hair and put beads in
it."
The four are fired up about the
musical offerings, from Crosby,
Stills & Nash to Green Day, from
Aerosmith to Wisconsin's own Violent Femmes.
"I've heard a lot about the aura
and I'm kind of looking to see if
that will carry on," says Johnson.
"It will be hard to catch the same
spirit. But as far as like the people
are concerned, I'm hoping everyone will get along."
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