THE JUKE BOX- WATKINS GLEN SUMMER JAM

It was the summer of 1973. I was just fifteen at the time, living in South West Philly. My boyfriend (now my husband) and I ran into a bunch of friends who were packing a U-Haul van they had rented. They told us they were going to a concert in upstate New York. They said it is going to be like Woodstock. When they asked if we wanted to go we didn't even hesitate and said yes.

It was about a five hour drive to Watkins Glen. I remember when we got near Watkins Glen everything came to a stand still. You could hear and see people walking up and down the rows of vehicles selling everything to keep you buzzing. There were estimated 100,000 vehicles left abandoned in the road.

We took what we could carry and hiked the five miles to the race track. There were so many people. It was unbelievable.

I found out later that all the shelves in the stores were cleaned out and because of the vehicles being left abandoned on the roads the towns people could not get out of their driveways. No emergency vehicles, mail, or police could get through.

It was estmated that 150,000 tickets were sold, but over 600,000 showed up. Police said there were no major incidents and most were easy to get along with.

When we reached the top we could see that the fence had been ripped up and poles made from tree branches were holding it up. Good thing because we had no tickets. It looked like a rushing river made of people going through the opening!

It was very hot so we set out to find a nice spot in the woods where we made a tent out of blankets and a tarp we had. Once our camp was set up the party started. I remember the first thing I saw was a man with nothing on but a top hat walking with his wife and son who were also in their birthday suites. The view from where we were looked like a sea of people.

There were three bands that played that weekend. Grateful Dead, The Band and the Allman Brothers. It was amazing we could hear them over all the people.

When it was over my husband and I wrapped a blanket around ourselves and started the five mile hike back down the mountain. The sides of the road were littered with stuff that people got tired of carrying and just left. There was blankets, bottles of wine, clothes and camping gear. We grabbed a bottle of wine (Pink Catawba) and drank it on our way down.

When we got down to town there was a cop directing traffic with a girl under one arm and a bottle of wine in his other hand. Very exhausted from the walk we sat on the courthouse steps and watched the sea of people passing by while finishing the bottle of wine.

Amazing as it may seem our van was still there where we left it. It took us a few days to get home. We stopped and camped out at a few places. One day while pulled over checking the map for directions a police car pulled up behind us. We were all shitting our pants, since by now the van was well over the date due back and I never got permission to go. We didn't know if my mother had turned me in as a runaway or missing. Thank God the police officer just stopped to see if we needed help. So we let him be helpful and give us directions.

We all made it home in one piece. I was grounded for the rest of the summer. It was well worth it. This is a memory I will never forget.

If you were one of the lovely people that were  there please let us hear about your experience.

I can not believe considering this event was bigger then Woodstock and was recorded in the Guinness Book of World records I could not find any good music video from Watkins Glen Summer Jam. So what I did was get music that the bands played there and some of their other tunes. Hope they bring back some memories of good times.