The Powder Ridge Rock Festival That Never Happened

The Powder Ridge Rock Festival That Never Happened

Something happened on the way to Boston in 1971.

By Lynda Carson - July 29, 2026

During late July 1971, after a month and more in the East Village of New York City (NYC), squatting with a friend (nicknamed Indian Bob) on the 8th floor of a condemned building with a bunch of Junkies, we decided to head to Boston. The condemned building we slept in at night was near the Electric Circus night club on St. Marks Place, between Second and Third Avenues, in the East Village. The Electric Circus Club was a ‘very hip’ happening place before it shut down shut down On September 2, 1971. It was an incredibly exciting neighborhood at the time. But after more than a hot summer month in the East Village and the huge crowd of people on the streets, Bob and I decided that we needed to get out of there, and hitch hike our way up north to Boston. At the time, we were both a couple of young wild teenage runaways, on a long strange trip called life.

Before we went to the East Village, we were both living on the streets of Chicago, and hung out in front of the Art Institute on Michigan Avenue, with a bunch of Yippies in the day time. We were doing what teenage runaway kids do best, when they were living on the streets back in 1971. We learned from others how to live and survive on the streets of Chicago. We used to pan handle in front of the Art Institute for some spare change, and would sell the ‘The Chicago Seed’ (a.k.a. The Seed) newspaper to the busloads of tourists to make a little extra bread for some food, etc… What a world. It all seemed very exciting at the time, especially compared to the small conservative Republican town around 25 miles away, that we both ran away from.

At night we used to crash (camp out) in Grant Park, behind the Art Institute. Sometimes we would camp out at night along the beach at Lake Michigan, or in Lincoln Park, and tried to hide from the pigs (cops). In the mornings we would go to a local Mayor Daly Food Program to eat a free meal being served 5 days a week. We did not have to listen to a church serman there before we could eat some food, unlike some other places that we tried. There used to be some huge anti-war protests happening in those days in Chicago, and it was very exciting to hangout with the Yippies. Sometimes we would hang out in Grant Park or Lincoln Park for some good concerts on Sunday, and get drunk on some Ripple wine, and share some french bread with others for something to eat. It was a gas and the music was great back in those days. However, eventually we decided to split the happening ‘hippie scene’ on the streets of Chicago, and hitch hike our way to NYC to see what was happening there.

After we decided to leave the East Village, we decided to head to Boston and hitch hike our way there. We heard that Boston and Cambridge was a cool place at the time.

Something happened on the way to Boston in late July in 1971.

While hitch hiking on the way to Boston, we got a ride from some cool people who were heading to a huge pop festival in Connecticut, called Powder Ridge. The music festival was supposed to be held at a ski lodge with a lot of great bands, and was supposed to be like the Woodstock music festival. Bob and I decided to join the people we were riding with, and we went to a small community where Powder Ridge was at.

When we got there, there were thousands of people already there. However, after we got there, there was a court injunction that happened to stop the music festival from ever happening. It was such a beautiful place, that Bob and I decide to stay there and camp out for 2 weeks with thousands of others.

We found a nice camping spot way up high along a ski trail, where we could look down below on the crowd of people wandering around. There were rows of tents set up where people were selling all kinds of dope at the time. Signs were posted on the tents to let you know what was available. Some signs said, ‘Marijuana,’ while other signs said, ‘ACID’, and some signs said, ‘Mescaline.’ Some has signs that said, ‘peyote.’ Some tents had signs for a ‘head shop,’ where people could buy water bongs, smoking pipes, and plenty of rolling papers to smoke their weed with.

There were even some ‘OD’ tents (overdose), for all of the people who took too much ‘acid - LSD’, or other psychedelics, and were freaking out. There were people in the ‘OD’ tents to help out trying to calm down all the poor folks who were freaking out at the time. It was a strange scene to see.

That seemed like it was a very wild ‘two weeks’ there with thousands of others at the ‘rock festival’ that never happened. But Bob and I had a good time, and made the best of the situation. Sometimes we went swimming with many others in a small lake there. Sometimes at night, people would set up a generator, and I recall watching ‘Alice in Wonderland’ there a few evenings with a bunch of other people for something to do. The folk musician called ‘Melanie’ managed to play some music there, as well as some other local musicians, despite the injunction that stopped all the major bands from playing there. Food seemed to be scarce from what I recall, and was hard to get at times, but we managed somehow.

Afterwards when the crowds started to leave Powder Ridge, Bob and I were soon off again on our journey, and we started hitch hiking our way heading up north to Boston… What a world.

For more about the rock festival that never happened, see a report further below.

Further below are a few photos from the 1971 Powder Ridge Rock Festival, that never happened.

Lynda Carson may be reached at newzland2 [at] gmail.com

Powder Ridge Rock Festival - 1971

Reportedly, “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.

Tickets were sold by mail at a price of $20 for the whole weekend. The announced line-up of musicians included:

Day 1: Eric Burdon & War, Sly and the Family Stone, Delaney & Bonnie, Fleetwood Mac, Melanie, Mountain, J.F. Murphy and Free Flowing Salt, Allan Nichols, James Taylor

Day 2: Joe Cocker, Allman Brothers, Cactus, Little Richard, Van Morrison, Rhinoceros, Ten Wheel Drive, Jethro Tull, Tony Williams Lifetime, Zephyr

Day 3: Janis Joplin, Chuck Berry, Bloodrock, Savoy Brown, Chicken Shack, Grand Funk Railroad, Richie Havens, John B. Sebastian, Spirit, Ten Years After
Powder Ridge was anticipated to be a significant historical music event, similar to Woodstock. In the year following Woodstock, however, the reputation of music festivals associated with the Hippie movement had become increasingly negative following the Atlamont festival, which went into “a long spiral of decline”. Thirty of the forty-eight major festivals planned for 1970 were cancelled, usually due to swiftly materializing local opposition. Powder Ridge, however, made national news because of the arrival of tens of thousands of ticketholders despite the event's cancellation. The New York Times followed its progress in about thirty articles before, during, and after the event.

Middlefield residents, worried about the impact of the crowd on their small town, received an injunction against the festival just days before it began. When the owner of the ski resort tried to contact the promoters to tell of the injunction, they could not be found. Local authorities posted warning signs on every highway leading to Middlefield: "Festival Prohibited, turn back". The promoters, however, kept hinting that there was still a chance that the concert would be held: "It's a total wait and see thing," a spokesman said and, after all, Woodstock had almost been cancelled too.

Although the promoters of the festival announced plans to reschedule the event for another location, no such plans ever came through, and no refunds were ever issued to the ticket buyers.
Approximately 30,000 people came to the site for the weekend. Most of the musicians, however, did not show up. Only Melanie and a few local bands actually performed during the three-day weekend. One of these local bands was "The Mustard Family" who, in the dark of night, hauled their instruments and equipment into the festival, by back roads and trails, and performed for the enthusiastic crowd. The official poster for the festival lists New York band, Haystacks Balboa, as the special opening act on Thursday night. The band's equipment was stopped by the authorities and the musicians gathered at a local cafe to await word as to their performance. After long negotiations, the band's manager advised the band to return home.”

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