Which U.S. state hosted the 1969 Woodstock festival?

The 1969 Woodstock festival was hosted in New York, at Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in Bethel. The event is often associated with the town of Woodstock, but the concert itself took place about 60 miles southwest of Woodstock, in Sullivan County.

Organizers originally planned the festival for Wallkill, New York, but local opposition and permit problems forced them to find another site. Yasgur’s farm near Bethel became the setting for the August 15–18 event, welcoming a crowd estimated at roughly 460,000 to 500,000 people.

The location helps explain several famous details of the festival: muddy fields after heavy rain, severe traffic on roads leading to the site, and the farm’s transformation into a temporary concert town. New York governor Nelson Rockefeller even considered calling in the National Guard because of the crowd and logistical strain.

The name “Woodstock” can mislead quiz-takers into thinking the festival occurred in the town of Woodstock. It did not; the historic concert was held in Bethel, New York, while Woodstock was the nearby upstate community that inspired the festival’s name.