WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS

The enduring story of Woodstock is that more than 400,000 people jammed into an area of about a square mile without a disaster.

Nancy Nevins first saw the crowd from a helicopter: “It didn’t even look like a crowd. It looked like a carpet. It didn’t even look like people, it was a big spread, multi-colored as far as you can see. And Alex (Del Zoppo, Sweetwater’s keyboardist) says to the pilot, ‘What are those crops, man?’ And he laughed and said, ‘Those aren’t crops, dude, those are people.’”

Kevin Rheden was an 18-year-old from the Hudson River Valley: “I’m meandering up through bodies, you know, smiling faces and feeling this overwhelming feeling of comfort. I can’t describe it except to say that the hillside was just like a waterfall of love ... It’s like I’m not alone. There are other people out there that think like me, dress like me, look like me and live like me.”

Henry Diltz : “Late the afternoon I thought, ‘You know, I’m going to walk through that crowd to the top of the hill and turn around and take a photo looking over the crowd down the hill at the stage.’ And so I did that and it took me quite a while to get up there, and by then it was just getting dark and I’m looking down and taking a picture and I hear ... ‘Ladies and gentleman, Crosby, Stills & Nash,’ And I go, ‘Oh s—-! In this July 12 photo, Henry Diltz poses for a picture in the Morrison Hotel Gallery in New York. Diltz said he got to the site early during the setup: “All these hippie carpenters were sawing and hammering, building this huge plywood deck right at the bottom of this big, green hillside.” There’s my friends, and I’m way up here!’ It took me half the set to get back through the whole crowd and get back up on stage.”

David Crosby of Crosby, Stills & Nash: “I saw people tear a sandwich and share it. Being nice to each other, gave us hope. There is the significant thing. For a minute, we were hopeful. For a minute we were not facing the Vietnam War. For a minute, we were not facing losing the Kennedys. For a minute, Dr. King’s death wasn’t hanging over us. For a minute, we were behaving like decent human beings.”

Annette Nanes, who drove to the festival with a college friend: “You

AP PHOTO/FILE In this Aug. 16, 1969 file photo music fans relax during a break in the entertainment at the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair in Bethel, N.Y. It was a great spot for peaceful vibes, but miserable for handling the hordes coming in by car.

AP PHOTO/FILE In this Aug. 16, 1969 file photo, hundreds of rock music fans jam a highway leading from Bethel, N.Y., as they try to leave the Woodstock Music and Art Festival. More than 400,000 people attended Woodstock which was staged 80 miles northwest of New York City, on a bucolic hillside owned by dairy farmer Max Yasgur.

SETH WENIG - THE AP