Seattle Pop Festival

{{Infobox music festival

| name = Seattle Pop Festival

| image = Seattle Pop Festival Poster.png

| caption =

| location = Woodinville, Washington
United States

| years_active = 1969

| founders = Boyd Grafmyre

| dates = July 25 to July 27, 1969

| genre = Rock, pop, jazz, soul, blues

| attendance = 50,000-100,000 (est. for 3 days)

| capacity =

| website =

}}

The Seattle Pop Festival was a music festival held at Gold Creek Park in Woodinville, Washington from July 25 to July 27, 1969.{{Cite news |date=1969-07-05 |title=Top performers set for annual pop festival |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/longview-daily-news-seattle-pop-festival/130383267/ |access-date=2024-02-15 |work=Longview Daily News |pages=5}} The event was organized by Boyd Grafmyre.{{cite web|last1=Wallender|first1=Les|title=The Forgotten Woodstock: Seattle Pop Festival, 1969|url=http://www.invisiblethemepark.com/2011/12/the-forgotten-woodstock-seattle-pop-festival-1969/|website=Invisible Themepark|access-date=14 April 2016}}

Overview

The plan for Seattle Pop was to have 25 acts play over the course of three days at Gold Creek Park located at 16020 148th Ave NE. Promoter Boyd Grafmyre went to great lengths to make sure performers arrived. He chartered a helicopter to fly The Doors from Seattle’s airport and rented a Cadillac convertible for Chuck Berry.{{Cite web|url=https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/seattle-pop-festival-july-1969/|title=Seattle Pop Festival: Remembering "The Forgotten Woodstock"|last=Stavropoulos|first=Laura|date=July 25, 2019|website=uDiscoverMusic}}

Tickets for the event cost $6 for a day or $15 for all three days. An estimated 50,000-100,000 people attended the festival.{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Dorian C. |date=1969-08-30 |title=Rock Festivals: Where Fans 'Do Their Thing' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-chronicle-ike-and-tina-turner/132586463/ |access-date=2024-02-15 |work=The Daily Chronicle |pages=1}}{{Cite news |last=Quigley |first=Michael |date=1969-07-28 |title=Seattle Pop Festive: Old Rock Masters Cool Festival Heat |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-province-ike-and-tina-turner-at-the/130383317/ |access-date=2024-02-15 |work=The Province |pages=8}} Seattle Pop was one of the festivals to forgo hiring police or off-duty officers as security; instead, Grafmyre hired The Black Panthers to keep watch.

Because attendance was larger than expected, extra food and water needed to be brought into the venue.[http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=1259 Seattle Pop Festival held in Woodinville on July 25, 1969: HistoryLink.org Essay 1259] According to one source: "Sanitary facilities were inadequate, but every attempt was made to meet county requirements ..." Nearby neighbors complained of traffic and the hippie atmosphere, but Chick Dawsey, owner of Gold Creek, noted that spectators were orderly with very few exceptions."

Performers

The Seattle Pop's line-up was a mix of established acts, native groups from the Pacific Northwest. Twenty-six musicians and groups performed at the festival. The Doors, Chuck Berry, The Byrds and The Ike & Tina Turner Revue were among the most highly-anticipated acts, but newcomers Led Zeppelin emerged as the highlight. "Sunday night was supposed to belong to The Doors but it was stolen right out from under them by the great English blues group, Led Zeppelin," wrote the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

= List of performers =

==See also==

References

Category:Music festivals in Washington (state)

Category:1969 in American music

Category:Rock festivals in the United States

Category:Concerts in the United States

Category:Hippie movement

Category:Music festivals established in 1969

Category:Pop music festivals in the United States

Category:1969 music festivals

Category:1969 in Washington (state)