A trio in neo-hippie garb with tie-dye and fringe shimmied to the music, laughing and taking selfies.
One of them was Donna Valenti, who said she was a hippie back in the day but never made it to Woodstock, that iconic 1969 music festival in upstate New York.
“I actually lived in a cave in Maui for a while. All I wanted from life was to spread sunshine and make people happy,” she recalled of her time in 1973.
Valenti and her friends Bonnie Lodes and Nancy Waldowski were reinventing the ’60s at Laguna Woodstock, put on by the Laguna Woods Boomers Club on June 24 at Clubhouse 2.
The much anticipated annual party once again drew a joyous crowd – more than 1,000 by one estimate – dressed in hippie-inspired clothes, yards of hair in at least 40 shades of gray and, as a reminder that this is 2023 and not 1969, one set of long hot pink tresses.
A canopy city had sprung up on the lawn in front of the clubhouse, filled with revelers enjoying food, drink and whatever else they felt like consuming. Vendors selling tie-dye clothing, fancy soaps, jewelry, candles and more set up shop inside the building, and food booths were out back.
On the front patio, partygoers rocked to the music of five bands over nearly eight hours, dancing to favorite songs from the ’60s and ’70s.
Elliot and Sharon Freedman had been to at least 12 Laguna Woodstocks, they said.
A music aficionado, Elliot Freedman said he’s been to more than 1,000 concerts since high school. He didn’t make it to the original Woodstock, he said, but he went to that other iconic 1969 festival, the one in California.
“I was at Altamont for the Rolling Stones concert. Grace Slick was singing when those shots were fired,” he recalled, his voice drifting off into the surrounding din.
Steven Hall almost made it to Woodstock in ’69, he said, but he faced time restrictions imposed by the Army. He was stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey, after serving in Vietnam from 1967-68.
“My buddies and I…
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