Bethel Woods Summertime Fun!

I've shared a bit of history about Bethel Woods in a previous post, The Most Historic Music Venue, as an introduction to the site where the Woodstock Music Festival took place back in the summer of 1969. Since the days of it being a dairy farm, Bethel Woods is a fully functioning center for performing arts with both an indoor museum and event gallery along with an 800-acre campus that includes a main stage and pavilion for outdoor concerts.

Many famous musicians have graced the stage of Bethel Woods, from Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Carlos Santana to Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and the Boston Pops Symphony. It has played host to a wide range of musical talent over the years and continues to bring great shows to audiences that come from all around the region.

The 2015 summer concert season kicked off with Mysteryland USA, a 3-day event over Memorial Day Weekend. It is the longest running electronic music, culture and arts festival in the world, and returned to Bethel Woods for the second year. Recently The Fray, Train, Bryan Adams and Foreigner performed. There is still time to catch a favorite act with the following line up rounding out the remainder of summer:

• DEF LEPPARD, with STYX and TESLA, 7/11/15 @7pm
• Neil Young, with special guests Pussin Boots, 7/17/15 @8pm
• Brad Paisley with Justin Moore and Micky Guyton, 7/24/15, 7:30pm
• Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga, 7/25/15 @8pm
• 3 Doors Down with Seether, 8/1/15 @8pm
• Peter Cetera with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, 8/2/15 @7pm
• Florida Georgia Line with Thomas Rhett and Frankie Ballard, 8/7/15 @7:30pm
• Lynard Skynard with Marshall Tucker Band, 8/14/15 @7:30pm
• Zac Brown Band, 8/23/15 @7pm
• Rascal Flats with Scotty McCreery and Raelynn, 8/30/15 @7:30pm
• Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire, 9/1/15 @7:30pm
• Van Halen, 9/6/15 @8pm
• Jackson Browne, 9/19/15 @8pm

Bethel also has a variety of festivals taking place, in the form of music, wine, beer, harvest, wellness and holiday. Each season there's something for everyone.

Culture in the Catskills

The Catskills have many historical landmarks, but its growing culture over the years has been a significant expansion to the region. There are fine arts displayed in galleries and museums, local troupes performing in small theaters, outdoor stages and churches, and the return of film festivals.

When I googled for things to do while visiting The Catskills I found a handful of local sites, but I inevitably ended up on Wikipedia, as they have the market on search these days. Each of the hamlets within the county are listed and provide very basic information on their own pages, with the Sullivan County page providing a bit more on tourism as you can see below:

Sullivan County has been a popular vacation spot since the 19th Century, with mountain climbing, boating, and other outdoor activities, and the Monticello Raceway being among the attractions. The majority of the tourism occurs in the summer months. It was the site of the hundreds of resort complexes of the Borscht Belt (with their golf courses, social events, and entertainers), between the 1920s and 1970s. It was the site of the 1969 Woodstock Festival.
Many famous comedians tested their material and performed regularly at Borscht Belt hotels, including Milton Berle, Mel Brooks and Henny Youngman. Eddie Fisher performed often at Grossinger's, where in 1955 he married Debbie Reynolds.
During the period August 15–18, 1969, some 500,000 people gathered in Sullivan County's Town of Bethel at Max Yasgur's farm to attend the Woodstock Festival. The entertainers included The Who; the Grateful Dead; Jefferson Airplane; The Band; Canned Heat; Joan Baez; Arlo Guthrie; Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; Janis Joplin; Santana; Sly and the Family Stone; Blood, Sweat and Tears; Jimi Hendrix; and Richie Havens.
Today the site of the original Woodstock concert is the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, which includes a museum of the sixties and holds many concerts and other events.
Other notable cultural destinations include the CAS Arts Center, a multi-arts exhibit space and education center run by the Catskill Art Society in Livingston Manor, New York, and the NaCl Theatre, a professional regional theatre company focusing on experimental work in Highland Lake, New York.

While accurate, it doesn't include the cultural activity that has sprung up over the years. Knowing there were a couple of important mentions to add, I went ahead and edited the page. Here is my version:

Sullivan County has been a popular vacation spot since the 19th Century, with mountain climbing, boating, and other outdoor activities, and the Monticello Raceway being among the attractions. The majority of the tourism occurs in the summer months. It was the site of the hundreds of resort complexes of the Borscht Belt (with their golf courses, social events, and entertainers), between the 1920s and 1970s. It was the site of the 1969 Woodstock Festival.
Many famous comedians tested their material and performed regularly at Borscht Belt hotels, including Milton Berle, Mel Brooks and Henny Youngman. Eddie Fisher performed often at Grossinger's, where in 1955 he married Debbie Reynolds.
During the period August 15–18, 1969, some 500,000 people gathered in Sullivan County's Town of Bethel at Max Yasgur's farm to attend the Woodstock Festival. The entertainers included The Who; the Grateful Dead; Jefferson Airplane; The Band; Canned Heat; Joan Baez; Arlo Guthrie; Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; Janis Joplin; Santana; Sly and the Family Stone; Blood, Sweat and Tears; Jimi Hendrix; and Richie Havens.
Today the site of the original Woodstock concert is the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, which includes a museum of the sixties and holds many concerts and other events.
Other notable cultural destinations include the CAS Arts Center, a multi-arts exhibit space and education center run by the Catskill Art Society in Livingston Manor, New York, and the NaCl Theatre, a professional regional theatre company focusing on experimental work in Highland Lake, New York. 

Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, founded in 1976, serves as Arts Council for Sullivan County, New York. They present programs in the visual, performing, literary, and media arts and service a county-and valley-wide constituency of artists, arts groups and the general public. The staff advocates for advancement of the arts on the local, state, national, international level. As a catalyst for events not generally available, DVAA sponsors an outstanding variety of arts and cultural programs in its facilities, the Delaware Arts Center, on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Tusten Theatre, a fully-renovated 160-seat facility.
Liberty Museum and Arts Center, The Building, built in 1894 as the modern Poellman Hotel, had seen periods of occupation by plumbing and heating retailers, a furniture store and last by Katz Bakery, a famous local institution. Long abandoned, the building was nearly irreparable with a collapsed roof and leaks everywhere. Into this dire challenge came this group of community minded citizens lead by Robert Dadras, Gene Barbanti and Ron Gozza. They organized volunteers to remove tons of debris, repair the roof and begin renovation. With a few grants as seed money and construction help from a Sullivan County BOCES building class, a miracle was underway. With dedication and much hard work a major portion of the building was completed. On Friday, June 25th, 1997 a Grand Opening ribbon cutting was celebrated at 46 South Main Street, which was temporarily closed for the occasion.

 I took the liberty of adding two important art alliances that provide an enormous amount of diversity in expression, whether in fine arts or literary works.  Both of these centers showcase the work of artists in the region along with many who have contributed to supporting art programs, including educational services.  This is yet another wonderful attraction when visiting The Catskills!

The Most Historic Music Venue

Bethel Woods Center for the Arts is the original site of the Woodstock Music Festival of 1969. The 600-acre dairy farm was host to people from all over the area, as an initial idea to raise money to build a music studio retreat in the country. Tickets were printed and then sold in mostly record stores in the month prior. The plan was to have 50,000 people attend. With a mixed bag of experience organizing an event of this size, things quickly went awry for the four men behind it. A few days before the August festival, and entry fences were put in place, 50,000 people were already on-site camping in front of the stage. They had come in before the organizers were ready. The event team immediately realized they were in over their heads and declared it a free event. This of course would be their biggest mistake as over 500,000 people would find their way to this tiny town in the Catskills.

The three day festival turned into four as well known artists took the stage. These legends included Janis Joplin, Carlos Santana,  Joan Baez, Jimi Hendrix, Grateful Dead and The Who among many others. Thankfully over the long weekend, the crowd would dwindle down to only 25,000 on the fourth day. It would go down as the most historical music festival ever, full of sex, drugs and rock 'n roll and a whole lot of mud.

Today, Bethel Woods is a well manicured and efficiently run site that celebrates its origins and brings worldwide talent to its stages each year. As an outdoor concert venue, there is a great lawn as well as covered seating to accommodate every kind of attendee. Indoors there is space for more intimate shows including musical artists, creative artist exhibitions and a museum. They even have an educational program to inspire, educate and empower people. Throughout the summer and fall season the calendar includes harvest festivals, wine and craft beer festivals and a holiday market.

At first the lawn is empty and then it fills up. Thankfully the max these days is around 10,000!

The upcoming season of musical talent is sure to bring in a great crowd. It includes performances by Train, The Frey, Tony Bennett with Lady Gaga, Zac Brown Band, Rascal Flats and Van Halen, plus others. I've attended many shows at Bethel Woods and can say first hand that it's one of my favorite music venues. The average ticket price is $35 for the lawn with an extra $5 for a lawn chair. The sound system is amazing, there are food and drink vendors sprinkled around the entire place along with ample restrooms. It beats an indoor coliseum any day!