Finch Park in Ramsey, NJ was the site this past July 4th holiday weekend for a 40th Woodstock anniversary celebration that featured the legendary Richie Havens, who played at the original Woodstock in 1969. The two-day weekend event attracted about 1,000 people on July 3 and more than 5,000 on July 4.
Kicking off the Woodstock festivities on July 3 was Richard Reiter’s Drum Circle, followed by a tribute to the ’69 concert that included Souled Out, Bob Copeland, Renfield’s Roadhouse, Max Johnson, The School of Rock, Mary’s Basement, Monkeywoods, and Knighcrawlers, among several other groups.
Havens headlined the July 4 festivities that also included a tribute group to The Band, a poetry reading, the Ramsey Wind Symphony, and of course, fireworks.
“The event was an unbelievable success,” said ticket broker Daryl “DW” Warmbrand, owner of DW Events, the concert’s chief sponsor (see picture below of Warmbrand and Havens). During the event, the company also hosted a ticket raffle for seats to see CSN, The Allman Brothers, the American Idol tour, Blink 182 and Cirque du Soleil.
In addition to the musical entertainment, patrons could shop at over 25 vendors for homemade jewelry, pottery, handcrafted instruments, old fashioned kettle corn, clothing and more.
