ON THE STREET

The Southeast Missourian asked people what they thought about the first Woodstock event when it was held 25 years ago.

Myrt Goodman:

"My feelings about Woodstock were more or less what my parents were saying about it, that it was not necessarily all good. At the time, it was not something I would be allowed to go to. I realize now that it was more of a rebellion of the younger people. For the college students I was around, it was just right on, but I don't think it really caught on that much."

Vicki Connell:

"I enjoyed the music of the time, and I liked the dancing. But I wasn't a hippie. It was a big thing for some of my college friends who went to Woodstock. I didn't recognize them when they came back. They came back ultra-liberal. They let their hair grow and the guys had beards for about three or four years. Then they came back to their conservative roots."

Judy Wilferth:

"I was frightened about it, because I was a young mother at the time. What they were doing was so foreign to my way of life. It was on television, and it looked like it was one big, wild party. They were smoking pot and doing lots of things. Like anything, it was probably played up to be much larger that it was. It seemed to glorify what I perceive to be a lack of responsibility. I felt that it wouldn't take hold of this area where we live, because people are more responsible here."

Ella Mae Hoeller:

"I was scared to death about Woodstock. When I heard the name Woodstock, all I thought of was drugs, hippies and violence. It scared me because my children were young. I had two teenagers and an eight-year-old then, and I was afraid it was spreading nationwide. I was afraid we were close enough to big cities like St. Louis and Memphis, and that we were enough of a country town, that I didn't think we had enough protection against it. I was concerned that it would come here and my children would be overwhelmed with it."