Max Yasgur


Max Yasgur at the Woodstock Festival in 1969 which was held on part of his dairy farm in Bethel, New York

Born: Max B. Yasgur; December 15, 1919; New York City, New York, U.S.
Died; February 9, 1973 (aged 53); Marathon, Florida, U.S.


Max Yasgur's Farm (1999) 27 Yasgur Rd, Cochecton, NY 12726, USA

Max B. Yasgur (December 15, 1919 – February 9, 1973) was an American farmer. He was the owner of the 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York, at which the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was held between August 15 and August 18, 1969.

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Personal life and dairy farming

Yasgur was born in New York City to Russian Jewish immigrants Samuel and Bella Yasgur. He was raised with his brother Isidore (1926-2010) on the family's farm (where his parents also ran a small hotel) and attended New York University, studying real estate law. By the late 1960s, he was the largest milk producer in Sullivan County, New York. His farm had 650 cows, mostly Guernseys.

At the time of the festival in 1969, Yasgur was married to Miriam (Mimi) Gertrude Miller Yasgur (1920–2014) and had a son, Sam (1942–2016) and daughter Lois (1944–1977). His son was an assistant district attorney in New York City at the time.

In later years, it was revealed that Yasgur was in fact a conservative Republican who supported the Vietnam War. Nevertheless, he felt that the Woodstock festival could help business at his farm and also tame the generation gap. Despite claims that he showed disapproval towards the treatment of the counterculture movement, this has not been confirmed. Woodstock promoter Michael Lang, who considered Yasgur to be his "hero," stated that Yasgur was "the antithesis" of what the Woodstock festival stood for. Yasgur's early death prevented him from answering questions about why the festival took place.

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Max Yasgur - Woodstock
2,389 views • Apr 22, 2020

Mark Pitta
1.2K subscribers

It was his dairy farm and he delivered a perfect speech. This takes on new meaning as I post this during the pandemic.

Well, I came upon a child of God
He was walking along the road
And I asked him,Tell where are you going?
This he told me

Said, I'm going down to Yasgur's Farm,
Gonna join in a rock and roll band.
Got to get back to the land and set my soul free.

[Chorus]
We are stardust, we are golden,
We are billion year old carbon,
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.

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Written by: Joni Mitchell

Woodstock 1969 - Crosby, Nash and Stills
9,124 views • Jul 15, 2020

FM Underground 902
587 subscribers

David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash formed a loose group in 1968 after the demise of their former bands. After their first album was released in May 1969 (simply called Crosby, Stills & Nash) Neil Young joined them, too. Though the quartet was incredibly successful, the musicians rather paid attention to their individual solo careers.

Luckily the formation of CSN&Y made it to Woodstock, too. It was only their second gig and they were quite nervous on stage. Stephen Stills remarked: "This is the second time we've ever played in front of people, man. We're scared shitless."

The group played separate acoustic and electric sets. Neil Young joined them in the middle of the acoustic set. They performed in the night from Sunday to Monday, the start time is supposed to be 3:00 am. woodstock.fandom.com
Music in this video

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