On which date did the Monterey International Pop Festival begin?

The Monterey International Pop Festival began on June 16, 1967. The influential California festival ran for three days and ended on June 18 at the Monterey County Fairgrounds.

Monterey was organized by a group that included John Phillips, Lou Adler, and Alan Pariser. It presented major established performers alongside artists who were then less familiar to American audiences, helping define the musical atmosphere later associated with the “Summer of Love.”

The festival is especially remembered for breakthrough performances by Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Otis Redding. Hendrix’s dramatic guitar performance and Joplin’s powerful singing helped turn both artists into major stars.

Monterey is sometimes treated as simply a smaller Woodstock, but it came two years earlier and had its own historical importance. Unlike Woodstock, it was a carefully planned event with a strong emphasis on presenting a broad range of contemporary rock, soul, folk, and Indian music.