This is Amy Wagenaar from the Historical Society of Michigan with a Michigan history moment. On August 5, 1970, tens of thousands of young people converged on Jackson, Michigan. The attraction, Michigan's version of Woodstock. The event was the Goose Lake International Music Festival. Southfield businessman Richard Songer and his partner organized the festival on 350 acres of farmland just east of Jackson. Local officials and residents had opposed the festival. Fearing hordes of unruly young people, the organizers forged ahead anyway. The day before the music festival opened, traffic had backed up at the entrance gate for more than a mile. Songer had planned for a maximum of 65,000 visitors, but by early Friday morning, nearly twice as many had entered the grounds. By the time the music started on Friday Evening, an estimated 200,000 people had crowded in. Some people came for the drugs and the partying, but most wanted to hear the music. As one young man remembered, the music was on such a grand scale, it was electrifying, Amazing. Some of my favorite groups were there, even Rod Stewart and the Small faces. In all, 23 bands performed at Goose Lake, including some of the biggest names anywhere. In addition to Rod Stewart, attendees heard Chicago, Jethro Tull, the James Gang, and John Sebastian, best known as the founder of the Love and Spoonful. Up and coming Michigan bands were there too. Among them MC5, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, Mitch Rider and the Detroit Wheels Brownsville Station, and the Bob Seger system. Tom Wright, who would go on to manage the Rolling Stones and the who created the festival's music system. He. He built a two sided rotating stage that turned as one band finished its 45 minute set and another came on. Drugs were everywhere and the lake attracted some skinny dippers. But on the whole, there were few problems. Police awaited as people left the festival on Sunday. They made 163 arrests, mostly for drug possession. Goose Lake never saw another music festival. Jackson county prosecutor Bruce Barton got courts to issue an injunction banning public shows at the park. Festival organizer Richard Songer turned the site into a conventional campground. Today as Greenwood Acres, it operates as a 1000 site family campground. The stage is still there, converted into a recreation center. If you go there and listen carefully, you might just hear the echoes of classic rock and roll. This Michigan history moment was brought to you by michiganhistorymagazine.org.