July 5

Woodstock may have gotten the headlines but Atlanta was rockin’ a whole month earlier.

The Atlanta International Pop Festival of 1969 was a two-day music festival at the Atlanta International Raceway over the Fourth of July weekend. The brainchild of promoter Alex Cooley, tickets cost only $12.50 & $16, and a crowd of 120,000 drank, smoked, and listened to some great music during one of the hottest weekends of the year. Performers included Janis Joplin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Dave Brubeck, Blood Sweat & Tears, and Led Zeppelin. It also one of the first appearances of the Chicago Transit Authority before they shortened their name to Chicago.

It was so hot that local fire departments used hoses to sprinkle the crowd; many of the kids just got naked to cool off. The first music festival in the Deep South that brought a weekend of peace, love, and music ended on July 5, 1969, Today in Georgia History.