Woodstock, cities, United States

Woodstock. 1 City (1990 pop. 14,353) seat of McHenry co., NE Ill.; inc. 1845. In a grain and dairying area, the city has food processing and produces paper products, medical equipment, machinery, and chemicals.

2 Town (1990 pop. 1,870), Ulster co., SE N.Y., in an area of fruit and dairy farms, at the foothills of the Catskill Mts. The Woodstock Guild manages an artists' colony there (Byrdcliffe, opened 1903) and sponsors exhibits. The Art Students League of New York also had a summer school in the town (1906–22, 1947–79); an art school is now there.

Woodstock gave its name to the most famous of the music festivals of the 1960s and 70s, actually held (Aug., 1969) near Bethel, N.Y., c.45 mi (70 km) to the southwest. The name Woodstock has since signified the 1960s heyday of rock music and the youth counterculture movement. In Aug., 1994, a 25th-anniversary Woodstock concert was held in Saugerties, N.Y., c.7 mi (11 km) east of Woodstock.

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