Vortex I: A Biodegradable Festival of Life, more commonly known as just Vortex I, was a week-long rock festival in Oregon in 1970. It was sponsored by the Portland counterculture community, with help from the state of Oregon in Clackamas County near

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

. Held in order to demonstrate the positive side of the anti-War Movement and to prevent violent protests during a planned appearance in the state by President Richard Nixon, it remains the only state-sponsored rock festival in United States history.

Background

In 1970, President Nixon scheduled an appearance at the national

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...

convention in Portland, Oregon, in order to promote the continuation of the Vietnam War. A coalition of Portland-based

anti-Vietnam War Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War (before) or anti-Vietnam War movement (present) began with demonstrations in 1965 against the escalating role of the United States in the Vietnam War and grew into a broad social move ...

groups, called the People's Army Jamboree, planned a series of demonstrations and other anti-war activities, to be held at the same time as the convention. Law enforcement at all levels, expecting massive numbers of protesters on both sides, were concerned about large-scale violence—an FBI report estimated a potential crowd of 25,000 Legionnaires and 50,000 anti-war protestors, and suggested that the result could be worse than the protests at the

1968 Democratic National Convention The 1968 Democratic National Convention was held August 26–29 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Earlier that year incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had announced he would not seek reelection, thus making ...

in Chicago. A loose association of Portland counterculture groups banded together to devise a strategy that would highlight the best parts of the newly-evolving peace community. Koinonia House, a peace-activist Christian group hosted a public meeting and from there the idea of a "Biodegradable Festival of Life" called Vortex 1 came into being. Mike Carr, Lee Meier, Kristen Hansen and Nik Hougen were the first to go meet with Ed Westerdahl to discuss this concept, People from the following meetings including Bobby Wehe, Kaushal Yellin, and Glen Swift who went to meet Governor Tom McCall while others began to scout parklands nearby Portland that could accommodate such an event. In order to keep the peace, McCall acted on a suggestion by staffer Ed Westerdahl who had been meeting with the Vortex volunteers. He made an agreement with representatives of local anti-war factions to permit a rock festival to be held in a state park at the same time as Nixon's scheduled visit, and to turn a blind eye toward behavior that had been widespread at the Woodstock Festival, like nudity and use of marijuana. McCall has been heard to remark that by making this agreement—less than three months before the upcoming November vote, in which he was running for re-election—he had "committed political suicide."

The event

The festival was held from August 28 through September 3, concurrent with the American Legion convention. Between 30,000 and 100,000 attended the event, held at

Milo McIver State Park Milo McIver State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is in Clackamas County along the Clackamas River, near Estacada and close to Mount Hood. History The park was named in honor of Milo K. McIver. McIver was an Oregon Highwa ...

, near the city of

Estacada Estacada is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States, about southeast of Portland. The 2020 population is estimated to be 3,700. According to the 2010 census, the population in 2010 was 2,695. It is the 89th largest city in Oregon and t ...

. Admission was free of charge, so the gates to the event were not monitored (and accurate attendance figures were not available). On the busiest day of the festival, a line of automobiles ran from the park gates to southeast Portland. Per agreement with the governor, the police and the

Oregon National Guard The Oregon Military Department is an agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon, which oversees the armed forces of the state of Oregon. Under the authority and direction of the governor as commander-in-chief, the agency is respo ...

largely ignored non-violent offenses such as drug use and public nudity, both of which were present at the festival. The festival became known as "The Governor's Pot Party". The music at the festival was primarily performed by local acts. Oregon bands featured at the concert included Brown Sugar with Lloyd Jones, Jacob's Ladder, Portland Zu, Mixed Blood, and concert openers TuTu Band. The media reported that many prominent national acts of the time would appear, including Santana,

Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, that became one of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock. Formed in 1965, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to ac ...

, and

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

, but none did. Nationally known artists that did perform, though not rock bands, included blues harmonica player and singer Charlie Musselwhite and his blues band. Soul/R&B singer Gene Chandler also performed, backed by the band Funk. Ginger Baker of Cream came to visit the event but did not play. This did little to dampen the enthusiasm of the attendees. The Vortex 1 festival was essentially divided in two areas: the first at the higher elevations of McIver Park, held a huge home-built stage made of huge Oregon timbers; and the second, below by the Clackamas River held a sprawling encampment. The Portland community-based activist groups tended collectively to the various needs of the festival. The food co-ops and organic restaurants put together a facility that provided free food for the tens of thousands of attendees. The community free clinics (Outside In and LookingGlass) provided medical care. The motor heads parked the cars. The rock and roll halls from Portland ran the stage. Yoga groups held classes. Peace activist groups sponsored teach-ins and so on. It was truly a community-based, non-commercial event. The early pioneers of the Rainbow Gatherings worked there making an information booth, helping with security, lost children, supply trucks, stage building and that is where they took the name

Rainbow Family The Rainbow Family of Living Light is a counter-culture, in existence since approximately 1970. It is a loose affiliation of individuals, some nomadic, generally asserting that it has no leader. They put on yearly, primitive camping events on ...

Aftermath

Though no doubt aided by a last-minute cancellation by Nixon, the event had its desired effect. Both the American Legion convention and the anti-war activities of the Jamboree were carried out without any major incident. The concert was considered by many to be an excellent means of preventing violence; there was no interpersonal violence or harm, and the damage to property in Portland was limited to a single broken window. Far from committing political suicide, McCall won re-election that November, defeating opponent Robert W. Straub handily. McCall later told

Studs Terkel Louis "Studs" Terkel (May 16, 1912 – October 31, 2008) was an American writer, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for '' The Good War'' and is best remembered for his oral his ...

: "It was the damnedest confrontation you'll ever see. We took a park, south of Portland, and turned it into an overnight bivouac and disco party.…There was a lot of pot smoking and skinny dipping, but nobody was killed." Because the event was non-commercial, had no commercial backers and the performers were mostly local bands, the mainstream press largely ignored it as a music event, focusing instead on the political aspects. It was one of the largest rock and roll festivals of the era.

References

Works cited

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External links