Toledo Pop Festival 1969

Held on Sunday, September 14th 1969 just four weeks after Woodstock, Toledo’s hippies ‘n’ hairies got an opportunity to let their freak flag fly at this one day festival at Raceway Park.

It was very much a Michigan-biased line-up of bands, many of whom seemed to play every festival in the rust belt for about 3 years! Alice Cooper, Life, MC5, Rush, Savage Grace, SRC, The Amboy Dukes, The Frost, The Früt, The Pleasure Seekers, The Rationals, The Turtles The Turtles topping the bill was an interesting choice.

They had hit singles and could’ve been sure to pull some fans on the back of that. But Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman (Flo & Eddie) were also soon to join the Mothers Of Invention to perform their on-stage freaking to a more receptive audience and I’d imagine their performance here in Toldeo was very freaky and psychedelic as they performed a 20-minute version of Happy Together.

It ran from noon to midnight and the $5.00 admission ($4.25 Advance) was, as ever, good value. It’s interesting that few promoters tried to price gouge these gigs. The emphasis was only on making them affordable and drawing a big crowd, the profit made in the sheer numbers that wanted to come.