Powder Ridge Rock Festival
The Powder Ridge Rock Festival was scheduled to be held July 31, August 1 and August 2, 1970, at Powder Ridge Ski Area in Middlefield, Connecticut. A legal injunction forced the event to be canceled, keeping the musicians away; but a crowd of 30,000 attendees arrived anyway, to find no food, no entertainment, no adequate plumbing, and at least seventy drug dealers. William Manchester wrote: "Powder Ridge was an accident waiting to happen, and it happened." Volunteer doctor William Abruzzi declared a drug "crisis" on August 1, saying "Woodstock was a pale pot scene. This is a heavy hallucinogens scene."
Melanie Safka was the only artist ignoring the court injunction banning the festival; she performed on an improvised stage powered by Mister Softee trucks.
Hippie on the slopes at Powder Ridge, setting up camp.
Powder Ridge Ski Area is a ski area located in Middlefield, Connecticut. It began operations on January 22, 1961, closed in 2007, and reopened in 2013 as Powder Ridge Mountain Park & Resort. It is located on Besek Mountain. Powder Ridge Park is affiliated with the Brownstone Exploration and Discovery Park in the Portland Brownstone Quarries in nearby Portland, Connecticut.
View downhill from the Middlefield ski slope at sunset in Powder Ridge Mountain Park and Resort.
Powder Ridge Mountain Park and Resort lodge, ski slopes (with lights) from the drop off area and short term parking.
