Woodstock 50 refuses to die. After going through a litany of issues including permitting, investors pulling out, and general public lack of faith in the event, the venue it had planned also terminated the festival’s license. A statement released by the venue read, “Watkins Glen International terminated the site license for Woodstock pursuant to provisions of the contract. As such, WGI will not be hosting the Woodstock 50 Festival.”
Now, Woodstock 50 looks to hold the event at Vernon Downs, a hotel and harness horse racing track in Oneida County, near Utica, New York. According to reports, it’s still scheduled to take place the weekend of Aug. 16-18.
The most obvious downside of moving to Vernon Downs is the diminished capacity. Town of Vernon Supervisor Randy Watson said the proposed capacity of the event is now 45,000-50,000 people, which is significantly smaller than the 150,000 originally planned, and smaller than the approximately 70,000 people planned for the previous site. Other issues include a lack of camping options at the venue, forcing attendees to be bussed in from nearby camping sites.