On this weekend 40 years ago, Sultan really rocked

Forty years ago this weekend, thousands of people descended on a farmer’s field for a three-day spectacle of hippies, mud and progressive rock music.

If you’re thinking Woodstock, you’re off by one year and nearly 3,000 miles.

Think Sultan — no kidding, Sultan. It was actually three miles south of town, in a swampy field owned by “Betty ‘Universal Mother’ Nelson,” according to an Everett Herald article published Sept. 2, 1968.

If you’re a longtime local, and you’re old enough, you know all about the Sky River Rock Festival and Lighter Than Air Fair. Those who don’t know may have a tough time believing it isn’t some psychedelic dream conjured up by old baby boomers longing for their flower-child days.

Nope, I’m not smoking a thing. It happened. A year before Santana, Country Joe &the Fish, and the Grateful Dead showed up on Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, N.Y., for Woodstock, those same bands played the Sky River Festival. It was held over Labor Day weekend, Aug. 31 to Sept. 2, 1968.

Any visit to Seattle’s Experience Music Project will likely include a stroll through the Northwest Passage exhibit. There, among the region’s music artifacts, is a poster from the Sky River festival.

Along with the Dead, Country Joe McDonald and Santana, performers on the bill included Muddy Waters, the Youngbloods, Big Mama Thornton, It’s a Beautiful Day, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Gale Garnett, John Fahey, Sandy Bull, Dino Valenti, comedian Richard Pryor, and the list goes on.

Calls Friday to the Sultan Library and Sultan City Hall were fruitless in finding anyone willing to share Sky River festival memories. Part of the Sno-Isle Regional Library System, the library has nothing commemorating the 1968 festival.

At the Sky Valley Visitor Information Center, Ole Carlson has heard talk of the festival. He wasn’t around town back then. “I’m a relative newcomer; I’ve been here 36 years. There is a young man who’s talked about trying to revive a second coming of this,” said Carlson, adding that a son of Sultan City Council member Ron Wiediger once raised the idea of another Sky River Rock Festival. Wiediger wasn’t available Friday to comment.

Memories of the Sky River festival may have faded in Sultan, but Paul Dorpat of Seattle can’t forget. Dorpat, 69, is a historian, writer and photographer who in the 1960s was editor and publisher of The Helix, an underground newspaper in Seattle. In that role, he became one of the festival’s organizers.

“The Sky River Rock Festival and Lighter Than Air Fair was created out of another successful event, the piano drop,” Dorpat said. “That happened in the spring of 1968.”

In an article about the Sky River festival on HistoryLink.org, an online encyclopedia of area history, the late historian Walt Crowley wrote that the “Piano Drop” was held April 28, 1968, near Duvall. It was sponsored by The Helix and KRAB radio. About 3,000 people showed up to witness a piano being dropped from a helicopter and to hear a Country Joe &the Fish concert.

Dorpat was an organizer of the piano drop, which came on the heels of San Francisco’s 1967 be-in happening in Golden Gate Park. The Seattle man figured if a piano falling on wet grass could draw thousands, why not put on a bigger event?

Sky River festival organizers met in Seattle’s University District, near the now-gone Last Exit on Brooklyn coffee house. Dorpat, author of several “Seattle Now &Then” books and the recently published “Washington Then &Now,” said others were involved in booking festival bands. Musicians, he said, performed for “nearly nothing.”

Dorpat published an item in The Helix seeking a festival site. He remembers opening the letter from the Sultan area farm of Betty Nelson. “She invited us to use it, and drew a crude map. It was right where the hills start. That was important; it was a natural amphitheater,” he said.

The weekend was a rainy mess, and the festival is remembered as much for mud as for music. “One moment, they were chanting for the sun to come out — and it came out briefly,” Dorpat said.

No single musical performance stands out distinctly in his memory. “It was sort of the total buzz of the thing,” Dorpat said. For the Lighter Than Air Fair part of the event, balloons were in the plans. “One balloon went about 10 feet in the air,” Dorpat added.

Tickets were $6 for the whole festival, or $4 for any one day. Compare that with Seattle’s Bumbershoot this weekend. Once a free arts festival, Bumbershoot tickets are now $40 per day, or $100 for a three-day pass.

Dorpat avoids big festivals these days, both because he can’t afford them and because he’s busy at home working on projects. Time was, things were very different from today’s corporate-backed touring rock shows.

“It was a really wonderful event, despite the rain,” Dorpat said. “There was a lot of good music, a lot of dancing. There wasn’t as much hero worship then, it wasn’t celebrity driven. For a moment, it was sort of a populist culture.”

In the Everett Herald, the Sky River Rock Festival wasn’t even front-page news. The article on page 3A didn’t mention any bands. Instead, it noted the mud, traffic, nude swimming, and a “hairy” crowd of more than 20,000 people.

“Who are they? Hippies,” the Everett Herald reported on Sept. 2, 1968.

At the Experience Music Project, 36-year-old senior curator Jacob McMurray is feeling a little cheated.

“I certainly missed out on that particular scene,” he said.

Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlstein@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Olivia Vanni / The Herald 
The Mukilteo Lighthouse. Built in 1906, it’s one of the most iconic landmarks in Snohomish County.
The Mukilteo Lighthouse. Built in 1906, it’s one of the most iconic landmarks in Snohomish County. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mukilteo mayor vetoes council-approved sales tax

The tax would have helped pay for transportation infrastructure, but was also set to give Mukilteo the highest sales tax rate in the state.

Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring gives the state of the city address at the Marysville Civic Center on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, in Marysville, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Marysville council approves interim middle housing law

The council passed the regulations to prevent a state model code from taking effect by default. It expects to approve final rules by October.

x
State audit takes issue with Edmonds COVID grant monitoring

The audit report covered 2023 and is the third since 2020 that found similar issues with COVID-19 recovery grant documentation.

Bothell
Bothell man pleads guilty to sexual abuse of Marysville middle schoolers

The man allegedly sexually assaulted three students in exchange for vapes and edibles in 2022. His sentencing is set for Aug. 29.

Larsen talks proposed Medicaid cuts during Compass Health stop in Everett

Compass Health plans to open its new behavioral health center in August. Nearly all of the nonprofit’s patients rely on Medicaid.

Snohomish County Health Department Director Dennis Worsham on Tuesday, June 11, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Snohomish County Health Department director tapped as WA health secretary

Dennis Worsham became the first director of the county health department in January 2023. His last day will be July 3.

Logo for news use featuring the municipality of Mukilteo in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
On second go, Mukilteo City Council votes against sales tax hike

A veto from Mayor Joe Marine forced the council to bring the potential 0.1% sales tax increase back for another vote Monday.

Community members gather for the dedication of the Oso Landslide Memorial following the ten-year remembrance of the slide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
The Daily Herald garners 6 awards from regional journalism competition

The awards recognize the best in journalism from media outlets across Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

Two visitors comb the beach at Kayak Point Regional County Park on Friday, June 14, 2024, in Tulalip, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Nate Nehring and WSU Beach Watchers to host beach cleanup at Kayak Point

Children and families are especially encouraged to attend the event at Kayak Point Regional County Park.

One person dead in single-vehicle fatal crash near Stanwood

A 33-year-old male was found dead at the scene Monday evening with his vehicle partially wrapped around a tree.

Logo for news use featuring Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Snohomish Regional firefighters respond to nearly 90 calls on the Fourth

While crews stayed busy on Independence Day, it was far more peaceful than other years.

Vehicles travel along Mukilteo Speedway on Sunday, April 21, 2024, in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Mukilteo approves 84-acre annexation east of Speedway

The annexation of unincorporated land is expected to bring new revenue to the city as it faces budget challenges.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.