With less than a month until it is scheduled to begin, Woodstock 50 is spiraling deeper into doubt as the drama and controversy that has surrounded the festival for months continues to escalate.
The Town of Vernon in Oneida County on Monday rejected for the fourth time in two weeks an application — with a safety plan deemed "worthless" by one official — submitted by organizers in hopes of staging a 50th anniversary Woodstock concert Aug. 16-18 at Vernon Downs, west of Utica.
Safety and capacity — two issues that dogged the historic Woodstock festival in 1969— figure prominently in the denial letter issued by Town of Vernon Code Enforcement Officer Reay Walker in response to the most recent application submitted July 17.