“The Love Valley Rock Festival was held July 16-18, 1970, [in] the Western-themed community of Love Valley, 15 miles north of Statesville…. This small town became a big city, swelling from roughly 100 full-time residents to perhaps 200,000 youthful pilgrims.
“Because of its size, the Love Valley Rock Festival made headlines. Beyond the initial buzz, the festival served notice that the counterculture was beginning to invade formerly resistant corners of the hippie-hating South.
“ ‘We all felt we were re-creating Woodstock,’ says Marilyn Wolf, [now a Greensboro psychotherapist], who attended with friends. ‘That was the hope.’ ”
– From “Remembering N.C.’s Woodstock” in the Greensboro News & Record. Rock journalist Parke Puterbaugh uses the recollections of festivalgoers to capture a salient cultural moment that seems much longer ago than 40 years.
Were any other large-scale rock festivals staged in North Carolina?
My distant cousin and “mayor” of Love Valley, Andy Barker, still presides over the comings and goings of the town from a chair in his store. Drop by. He is full of tales and knows how to tell them!
Hard to top this one (from a q-and-a with Puterbaugh):
“The people that was sellin’ the LSD and everything, there must’ve been about 20 of ’em. And we had the Iron Cross out of Atlanta, who later became the Outlaws, the bike boys. They had about 75-80 people here. I went to the chief, whose name was Surfer, and said, ‘Look, Surfer, I want these drugs out of here. Go take every damn thing you can get your hands on and run ’em out.’ They started doin’ it.
“Well, in a while, a bunch of these young fellows come to my house and said, ‘We want this motorcycle crowd to leave us alone or we’re gonna burn this town down.’ I said, ‘Well, just a minute, boys. Lemme see if I can talk to somebody.’ I went in and got my sawed-off shotgun. I said, ‘I’m gonna shoot every one of you (expletive),’ and man, they scattered like quail. I didn’t have any more problems outta them.”
That would be Andy . . .
According to Pittsboro photographer Bill Stancill, there was also a big festival called Peachtree held more than once in the early ’70s, with the first taking place at the Rockingham Speedway:
The first Peachtree was held at the speedway and drew about 100K. Alice Cooper was the headliner, but Poco, Three Dog Night, Fleetwood Mac and several others were on the bill. The James Gang, minus Joe Walsh also played.
Another one was held in Fayetteville the next year. Santana was the headliner. Tower of Power and Foghat were also on the bill.
Bigger names than at Love Valley, which didnt pay performers but lucked onto the soon-to-be-famous Allman Brothers.
http://buzzell.smugmug.com/Events/Love-Valley-Rock-Festival-1970/18389240_Rtjt8C
A collection of photos I shot as a UPI Stringer. Tucked away for 40 years.
Memories for those who were there.
Ed
Thanks for unearthing and sharing, Ed — you sure captured the moment.
Just saw this obit on Andy Barker, founder of Love Valley.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/08/12/1408585/founder-of-nc-cowboy-capital-dies.html
Wow, Ed Buzzell!!!!!!!!!! The pics are just the bomb! I was there and your pics are invaluable in bringing back the the love and peace of that era.
I thank you for sharing.
As I reach my late 50s, things like this are just priceless!
Thanks Again
JB
I was there during the festival. I sure would LOVE to see some photographs of the festival. Would you happen to know a specific website or link I could visit to vew such great memories?? Thanks so much!!!!
I was there too, a great time of blossoming for me.
)
Ed Buzzell’s pics are really wonderful! I KNOW I’m in some of the photos…I just can’t remember what I looked like back then!
I was there too, hitchhike from Fayetteville had a great time. The bikers shoke me down for all my loose change. What a good time, buzzells pics are great.