Article and Photographs by Melissa Jones

Bethel, N.Y. – In recent years, the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts has been one of the few bright spots in the Sullivan County economy. Once known as Max Yasgur’s farm, the dairy farm that was the site of the Woodstock music festival in 1969, the Bethel Woods Center has once again made the property a go-to venue for cultural events.

Locals spent years fighting to prevent the 600-acre farm from becoming a pilgrimage site for Woodstock devotees. But, in 1996, Alan Gerry, the founder of Cablevision Industries and a resident of nearby Ferndale, purchased the festival site and the surrounding 1,400 acres for the Gerry Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at revitalizing the local economy.

The arts center opened a decade later, shortly before the start of the Great Recession, with a performance by the New York Philharmonic in its new 15,000-seat pavilion. Bethel Woods also includes a museum with interactive displays of the Woodstock festival; the museum also hosts a variety of arts and humanities-related exhibits.

In mid-November, Bethel Woods announced that it would host Mysteryland 2015, news that was hailed by Sullivan County residents and administrators as another stimulus for tourism and business.

Once the heart of the borscht-belt resort area, Sullivan County’s economy declined as the hotels, bungalow colonies and other mainstays of its tourism industry closed, starting in the 1970s, leaving the local economy stalled. Sullivan County’s unemployment rate was 8.7 percent in 2013, according to the New York State Department of Labor, down only slightly from 2010, and well above the national average. Close to 12 percent of the county lives below the poverty line.

Forty-five years after Woodstock, the town of Bethel has grown into a vibrant cultural and business district, with Bethel Woods at its center. In 2013, Bethel Woods’s net assets came close to $25 million, according to its filings with the Internal Revenue Service. Bethel Woods generates jobs for locals, particularly teenagers and young adults. The organization employed 483 workers in 2013 and 117 volunteers; the center spent nearly $3.3 million on employee salaries that year.

“Employees are treated great,” said Jesse Jurgens, a maintenance and parking lot employee at Bethel Woods. “We always get fed at meal times and we work twelve hour shifts on average $10.50 starting wage.” Employees at Bethel Woods work from May through November.

Since its inception, the organization and performing arts center have generated both new businesses and jobs.

“Bethel Woods has helped keep the town of Bethel and Sullivan County afloat during these hard economic times,” said Daniel Sturm, Town Supervisor who has been on the Town of Bethel’s board for 10 years.

Today, Bethel Woods is one of the few major employers in the area, though that may soon change. New York State has approved the construction of an $800 million resort and casino in Monticello, just 10 miles from Bethel. In fact, Gov. Andrew Cuomo came to Bethel Woods on Dec. 18 to discuss the anticipated economic impact of the casino resort.

The Bethel Woods Center has hosted world-renowned artists, including some of the original Woodstock performers. This year alone, John Fogerty; Crosby, Stills and Nash, and Santana played at Bethel Woods. Other artists – both contemporary and classical – have played during the summer concert series, including Keith Urban, the Zac Brown Band, Boston and Lady Antebellum, the Temptations and the Four Tops. The center says it hosts 220,000 visitors annually.

This year, over Memorial Day weekend, Bethel Woods hosted the country’s debut of Mysteryland, an electronic music festival that originated in the Netherlands and became the first overnight camping festival at the site since Woodstock. More than 20,000 concertgoers, both locals and tourists, attended the three-day event. As at the Woodstock festival, local police and state troopers assisted Bethel Woods staff and Mysteryland coordinators to keep the event running smoothly.

The festival “brought a new audience through our doors, exposing them to the many different programs we offer,” said Darlene Fedun, Bethel Woods’s CEO. She said the event led to sold-out hotels and campgrounds “and brought increased traffic to a variety of local businesses.” “The only complaint I received was about the noise,” Sturm said, adding that “by the end of the second day, the sound people reduced the noise significantly.”

Bethel Woods’ success has helped attract a number of new restaurants. The area around Kauneonga Lake “is now known as restaurant row,” said Sturm, home to Benji and Jake’s, The Brick House and the Local Table and Tap. While some are only open during the season, a few operate year around, including the nearby Java Love.

As the casinos and resorts get ready to open nearby, Bethel Woods also helps preserve the counter-culture history of the area. And outside the Woodstock Museum, a pathway stone, simply inscribed “In memory of Max Yasgur,” reminds visitors of the area’s storied past.