Texas International Pop Festival

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and friend, this one's worth every word. Labor Day weekend, 1969. Two weeks, just two weeks, after a little gathering up in New York state called the Woodstock Music and Art Fair had introduced much of mainstream America to hippie culture through news reports of chaos, rainy weather, and lax security, somebody looked at Lewisville, Texas, and said: let's do this again.

Bigger. In Texas. And they did.

As many as 150,000 hippies, bikers, and music lovers descended on a town of approximately 9,000 citizens. You do that math and let it sit with you a moment. The Dallas International Motor Speedway, sitting right along Interstate Highway 35 south of town, was chosen as the location.

Smart choice, maybe. Or bold one. Possibly both.

They called it the Texas International Pop Festival. Three days. Twenty-five musical acts.

Soul, blues, and rock and roll, all of it pouring out across the north Texas heat. Now, the lineup. Janis Joplin.

Sly and the Family Stone. Grand Funk Railroad. Chicago Transit Authority.

Herbie Mann. And tucked in among them, a relatively unknown United Kingdom band called Led Zeppelin. Relatively unknown.

In 1969. At Lewisville, Texas. On the north side of town, a public campground on the shores of Lewisville Lake served the thousands of attendees.

They even built a small free stage out there so local bands could play for the campers. Now, the festival lacked shower facilities, and the late-summer Texas heat being what it is, what it always is, the skinny-dipping in Lake Lewisville that resulted drew, as the marker puts it, much attention. Many locals demanded the festival be shut down over fears of violence and unsavory activity.

But here's the thing: not a single act of violence was reported at the festival. Not one. What did happen was that area citizens found themselves face to face with a culture that had been entirely foreign to them.

And many who attended, on both sides of that cultural divide, you'd have to imagine, look back on it as a life-changing event. 150,000 strangers rolled into a town of 9,000, Led Zeppelin played to a campground in Texas, and nobody got hurt. Sometimes the story that doesn't happen is the one worth tellin'.

What the marker says

The Texas International Pop Festival took place near this site during Labor Day weekend, 1969. It was held two weeks after the Woodstock Music and Art Fair introduced much of mainstream America to the “hippie” culture by way of news reports of the chaos that occurred there in part due to rainy weather and lax security. The Texas festival brought as many as 150,000 hippies, bikers and music lovers to Lewisville, which at the time had a population of approximately 9,000 citizens. The Dallas International Motor Speedway, situated along Interstate Highway 35 south of town, was chosen as the location for the event. Twenty-five musical acts, representing the genres of soul, blues and rock and roll performed during the three days of the festival. Acts included Janis Joplin, Sly & the Family Stone, Grand Funk Railroad, Chicago Transit Authority, Herbie Mann and a relatively unknown United Kingdom band called Led Zeppelin. On the north side of Lewisville, a public campground situated on the shores of Lewisville Lake served the thousands of festival attendees. A small “free stage” was constructed at the campground and local bands were brought in to perform for the campers. The skinny-dipping in Lake Lewisville that resulted from the lack of shower facilities and the late-summer heat drew much attention. Many locals demanded that the festival be shut down because of the threat of violence and unsavory activity, but there were no acts of violence reported at the festival. However, area citizens were introduced to a culture that had previously been foreign to them and many who attended look back on the festival as a life-changing event. (2010)