Summer of '69: Carol Schwartz

Carol Schwartz, 57, of Merrick. A reflexologist.

My sister and I begged our parents to go to Woodstock. We were crawling in a U-Haul van and people were walking along the highway and hopping into our van and hanging all over it.

We pulled over to a campsite as we got close. I had to call my mother. I remember waiting on line at the phone booth for hours. She said 'You get your sister and come right home now.' We had no food. I remember the rain, the mud, the Port-A-Sans. It was amazing to be there.

My sister Ronnie, who is in the famous Woodstock poster, was involved in the first birth at the festival. The woman in the next tent went into labor, so she ran to a medical booth and asked 'Did anyone here ever deliver a baby?' One guy said 'I once delivered a pig.' So she dragged him to the tent and before you knew it there was an announcement that the first baby at Woodstock had been born.

The music was awesome. After Woodstock, I became such a Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix fan. The energy was electrifying. I think about all the different faces, all the different looks. But we were all there for one thing and we all got along beautifully.