When I was 18, I went with a few friends to Englishtown Raceway in Englishtown, New Jersey to see an all-day concert with Marshall Tucker, New Riders of the Purple Sage and Grateful Dead. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect it to be Woodstock-esque. There were 150,000 people! The entire Grateful Dead concert is posted on YouTube. Here's the video!
Anyway, we had to park over a mile away on a side street. But we never had to ask anyone how to get to the concert because the line was like the proverbial line of ants at a picnic! It followed a straight line, but then deviated to the right and went into a liquor store (LOL), came out of the liquor store, and then proceeded forward!
It's been 50 years, so I don't remember very much of the concert, except there was this one moment where they announced a woman down near the stage had gone into labor and they were creating a clearing so they could bring in the Grateful Dead's helicopter to take her to the hospital. They were supposed to come back later that day and tell us what she had but they never did.
I remember one time standing up to go find the port-a-potties. When I saw how many thousands of people there were, I got dizzy and sat back down. When I finally did leave, I had to step over blankets and people! There was no clear path!
Heading home at the end of the day, I gave my carkeys to my friends Lisa and John. They were supposed to arrive at the car before the rest of us did but we got there first and they ended up going in the wrong direction and getting lost. So here it was 3 a.m. in the morning and the streets were loud with people everywhere. Thankfully, the house in front of where we parked had its living room lights on and the front door was open. I went and knocked and asked whether the man had a crow bar. I explained that my friend who had my keys was lost and said my purse was in the trunk and that I had a spare set of keys in it and could he help me get them out? He was very helpful. He pryed my trunk open. I pulled out my purse and then he tied the open lock hole down to the bottom of the trunk with some rope.
We drove around for about 15 minutes and finally found Lisa and John walking about a half mile away. But I'll never forget this experience! Today, I avoid crowds. I can't even imagine being in such a crowded situation now. You couldn't pay me enough to be in that kind of a situation, LOL.
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