Rockin' Good Time

It was a time when hip huggers and platform shoes were in style and people had pet rocks and mood rings. For three days in July 1974, Sedalia turned into a sea of people. More than 150,000 music lovers flooded the Missouri State Fairgrounds for the Ozark Music Festival, an event that was similar to Woodstock.

This year marks the 35-year anniversary of the Ozark Music Festival and the Katy Depot has an exhibit highlighting the event. Annette Ray, director of visitor services at the Katy Depot, said there are many people in Sedalia who remember that weekend.

“I want to encourage people to come out and relive the ’70s and reflect on a time in history that had a lot of turmoil and nostalgia, as well,” Ray said.

The festival featured some of the most popular bands of the time including the Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, REO Speedwagon, Boz Scaggs, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Ted Nugent and The Amboy Dukes, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Seger. The bands had to be flown in to perform due to the massive amounts of traffic on U.S. 65 and U.S. 50. The lanes were backed up for miles.

The festival ran July 19-21. Tickets were $15 per person and, according to documents at the Katy Depot, it was originally intended to be a bluegrass festival with about 50,000 people in attendance.

About 230,000 tickets were printed and 176,000 pass-out buttons and armbands were distributed for the event. It is reported that many people cut holes in fences and entered without paying.

People traveled from throughout the Midwest to attend the festival. As temperatures exceeded 100 degrees, festival goers realized that the fairgrounds could not accommodate them, so they began to venture to other parts of Sedalia for food, water and a place to sleep.

Harry Trotter, of Sedalia, was a manager at Bing’s at the time.

“We weren’t expecting that many people,” Trotter said. “I think it surprised everybody.”

Trotter was 36 at the time and said he would go to work a little after 6 a.m. and find people sleeping in the parking lot.

“You had to be careful or you would step on somebody who was sleeping,” Trotter said.

Shortly after the festival began, Bing’s ran out of ice. Trotter said a shipment of ice came in on a truck and people swarmed it. The ice was gone in about 35 minutes.

“It was quite a mess,” Trotter said.

During the festival, according to documents at the exhibit, the theme of the event seemed to be sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. People solicited sex for drugs, and clothing was optional. There were 1,000 drug overdoses and one person died.

Dr. A. J. Campbell set up a makeshift hospital on the fairgrounds in the Women’s Building and served more than 800 patients. It was reported that between 250 and 300 people would have died if not for his care.

The exhibit, sponsored by the Sedalia Heritage Foundation and the Chamber of Commerce, features photos, music, clothing, buttons and items from the 1970s and the festival. There also is a documentary film about the festival.

After it was all over, helicopters had to spray lime on the fairgrounds to protect people from disease left by used drug paraphernalia and human feces in preparation for the Missouri State Fair. There was about $100,000 worth of property damage reported.

Trotter said the front door and a front window of Bings had been broken out, but, “it could have been a lot worse.”

The Ozark Music Festival Exhibit will be on display at the Katy Depot from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays beginning April 4. The exhibit is free to attend and will run through December.

Ray also wants to encourage people to visit the exhibit Web site at www.ozarkmusicfestivalexhibit.com to share stories about the ’70s or the festival.