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=                              Vortex_I                              =
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                            Introduction
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Vortex I: A Biodegradable Festival of Life, more commonly known as
just Vortex I, was a week-long rock festival in Oregon in 1970. It was
sponsored by the Portland counterculture community, with help from the
state of Oregon in Clackamas County near Portland. The festival was
meant to demonstrate the positive side of the anti-War Movement and to
prevent violent protests during a planned appearance  by President
Richard Nixon at a convention of the American Legion. Nixon ended up
cancelling his appearance due to scheduling conflicts, with Vice
President Spiro Agnew appearing instead. It remains the only
state-sponsored rock festival in United States history.


                             Background
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In 1970, President Nixon scheduled an appearance at the national
American Legion convention in Portland, Oregon, in order to promote
the continuation of the Vietnam War. A coalition of Portland-based
anti-Vietnam War groups, called the People's Army Jamboree, planned a
series of demonstrations and other anti-war activities, to be held at
the same time as the convention.  Law enforcement at all levels,
expecting massive numbers of protesters on both sides, were concerned
about large-scale violence—an FBI report estimated a potential crowd
of 25,000 Legionnaires and 50,000 anti-war protestors, and suggested
that the result could be worse than the protests at the 1968
Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

A loose association of Portland counterculture groups banded together
to devise a strategy that would highlight the best parts of the
newly-evolving peace community. Koinonia House, a peace-activist
Christian group hosted a public meeting and from there the idea of a
"Biodegradable Festival of Life" called Vortex 1 came into being. Mike
Carr, Lee Meier, Kristen Hansen and Nik Hougen were the first to go
meet with Ed Westerdahl to discuss this concept, People from the
following meetings including Bobby Wehe, Kaushal Yellin, and Glen
Swift who went to meet Governor Tom McCall while others began to scout
parklands nearby Portland that could accommodate such an event.

In order to keep the peace, McCall acted on a suggestion by staffer Ed
Westerdahl who had been meeting with the Vortex volunteers. He made an
agreement with representatives of local anti-war factions to permit a
rock festival to be held in a state park at the same time as Nixon's
scheduled visit, and to turn a blind eye toward behavior that had been
widespread at the Woodstock Festival, like nudity and use of
marijuana.  McCall has been heard to remark that by making this
agreement--less than three months before the upcoming November vote,
in which he was running for re-election--he had "committed political
suicide."


                             The event
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The festival was held from August 28 through September 3, concurrent
with the American Legion convention.  Between 30,000 and 100,000
attended the event, held at Milo McIver State Park, near the city of
Estacada.  Admission was free of charge, so the gates to the event
were not monitored (and accurate attendance figures were not
available).  On the busiest day of the festival, a line of automobiles
ran 18 mi from the park gates to southeast Portland.

Per agreement with the governor, the police and the Oregon National
Guard largely ignored non-violent offenses such as drug use and public
nudity, both of which were present at the festival. The festival
became known as "The Governor's Pot Party".

The music at the festival was primarily performed by local acts.
Oregon bands featured at the concert included Brown Sugar with Lloyd
Jones, Jacob's Ladder, Portland Zu, Mixed Blood, and concert openers
TuTu Band.  The media reported that many prominent national acts of
the time would appear, including Santana, Jefferson Airplane, and
Grateful Dead, but none did. Nationally known artists that did
perform, though not rock bands, included blues harmonica player and
singer Charlie Musselwhite and his blues band. Soul/R&B singer
Gene Chandler also performed, backed by the band Funk. Ginger Baker of
Cream came to visit the event but did not play. This did little to
dampen the enthusiasm of the attendees.

The Vortex 1 festival was essentially divided in two areas: the first
at the higher elevations of McIver Park, held a huge home-built stage
made of huge Oregon timbers; and the second, below by the Clackamas
River held a sprawling encampment. The Portland community-based
activist groups tended collectively to the various needs of the
festival. The food co-ops and organic restaurants put together a
facility that provided free food for the tens of thousands of
attendees. The community free clinics (Outside In and LookingGlass)
provided medical care. The motor heads parked the cars. The rock and
roll halls from Portland ran the stage. Yoga groups held classes.
Peace activist groups sponsored teach-ins and so on. It was truly a
community-based, non-commercial event. The early pioneers of the
Rainbow Gatherings worked there making an information booth, helping
with security, lost children, supply trucks, stage building and that
is where they took the name Rainbow Family.


                             Aftermath
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Though no doubt aided by a last-minute cancellation by Nixon, the
event had its desired effect. Both the American Legion convention and
the anti-war activities of the Jamboree were carried out without any
major incident. The concert was considered by many to be an excellent
means of preventing violence; there was no interpersonal violence or
harm, and the damage to property in Portland was limited to a single
broken window. Far from committing political suicide, McCall won
re-election that November, defeating opponent Robert W. Straub
handily.

McCall later told Studs Terkel: "It was the damnedest confrontation
you'll ever see. We took a park, 20 mi south of Portland, and turned
it into an overnight bivouac and disco party.…There was a lot of pot
smoking and skinny dipping, but nobody was killed."

Because the event was non-commercial, had no commercial backers and
the performers were mostly local bands, the mainstream press largely
ignored it as a music event, focusing instead on the political
aspects. It was one of the largest rock and roll festivals of the era.


                              See also
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*List of historic rock festivals
*List of music festivals


                           External links
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*[http://www.powells.com/blog/on-oregon/the-vortex-baptism-by-matt-love/
"The Vortex Baptism" by Matt Love]
*[http://www.oregonlive.com/movies/index.ssf/2010/02/far_out_man_when_oregon_threw.html
Far out, man: OPB documentary looks back on Oregon's Vortex rock
festival] - 'The Oregonian'
*[http://www.opb.org/television/programs/oregonexperience/segment/vortex-i/
Vortex I]  Documentary produced by 'Oregon Public Broadcasting'
*[http://pamplinmedia.com/en/30-news/318051-197268-getting-back-in-the-vortex-groove
A 2016 article, out of Estacada, Oregon]


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Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vortex_I