Moscow’s Woodstock: The Blue Mountain Rock Festival

This article first appeared in the May/June 2025 edition of Home & Harvest magazine.

By Elaina Pierson, Office Coordinator

Blue Mountain Rock Festival, 1974. LCHS Photo: 01-08-134-01

The 1960s and 1970s in the United States were a time of profound political, social, and cultural change: The Civil Rights and Women’s Liberation Movements challenged and changed the status quo, underground groups such as the Symbionese Liberation Army set off hundreds of bombs in cities across the country, the Vietnam War entered its second decade, to name a few of the monumental events happening nation- (and world-) wide. Into this tumult appeared the Blue Mountain Rock Festival at the University of Idaho. A free outdoor concert on the last day of Parent’s Weekend in May 1971, it featured twelve hours of music from 10 different bands and was only formally announced in the university’s student newspaper, The Argonaut, two days prior, a somewhat unassuming beginning for an annual event whose notoriety grew with each successive year.

UI students Gary Speer and Bill Schelly organized this first concert after planning it for about a month. They secured the University of Idaho Arboretum (now the Charles Houston Shattuck Arboretum, or “Old Arboretum”) from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. for the event. At least 3,000 people were expected, with 20 volunteer students on hand as a de facto security force. “This is a test,” said Schelly, “If it goes well we will have more of them.”

Blue Mountain Rock Festival advertisement, 1971 / Courtesy of "The Argonaut - May 7th, 1971", The Argonaut Archive, University of Idaho Library Digital Collections, https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/argonaut/items/arg-1971-05-07.html

The Argonaut summarized the event on May 11th: only six bands took to the stage rather than the anticipated 10, but an estimated 6,000 people attended throughout the day, including some parents leftover from Parent’s Weekend. In addition, $500 in donations were gathered for the ACLU. Schelly later explained that total expenses for the concert were about $75, all covered by donations, and the Arboretum had been thoroughly cleaned afterward by volunteers from the student-run Talisman House.

Although the idea of rock festivals had been in sharp decline since Woodstock and the tragedy of Altamont in 1969, Blue Mountain seemed to have resurrected the idea in Idaho. The May 11th article stated, “The free admission, warm sunshine weather, and feeling of community among the crowd seemed to merge making the festival one of the few really successful rock gatherings in the past two years.” Blue Mountain was a success, and there would be more.

Blue Mountain Rock Festival photo spread from The Argonaut, 1971 / Courtesy of "The Argonaut - May 11th, 1971", The Argonaut Archive, University of Idaho Library Digital Collections, https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/argonaut/items/arg-1971-05-11.html

Preparations for Blue Mountain II began in February of 1972, with approval from the Associated Students of the University of Idaho (ASUI) Senate for the event to return to the Arboretum on May 7th. The Argonaut reported it would run from 10 a.m. to midnight with 20 bands, 20 “Blue Mountain Peace and Aid” people from the Talisman House for security and assistance, and four medics on standby. The event was dedicated to the students killed at Kent State and Jackson State two years prior and donations would again be collected for the ACLU. While this year’s festival was not as well attended as the first, with only about 2,000 people, it was also deemed a success. There was even a surprise appearance by three skydivers, floating unannounced, and unidentified, into the crowd.

April of 1973 brought news of Blue Mountain III, and whispers of discontent. University officials, including Vice President for Students and Administrative Services Dr. Thomas Richardson, wanted the event shortened to daylight hours only and canceled entirely in the event of rain. Authorities also expressed concern about publicity and its reflection on the university. An editorial in The Argonaut charged the administration with attempting to put the festival’s “spirit and joy into a sort of bell jar, where the authorities and important organizers can watch the activities and keep the spirit of the festival under control.” Still, the May 6th event went off with little difficulty, attracting a crowd of about 5,000 instead of a possible 10,000 that some had suggested (and feared). This third iteration of the festival had also developed some new problems. It was heavily advertised outside the area, with non-residents estimated to have comprised half the audience. A major increase in overnight campers was also noted, and according to VP Richardson, a growing atmosphere of “anything goes.” Still, he insisted, he didn’t object to a fun spring event for students: “There may be a time and place for letting it all hang out. I’m just not sure that our campus can or should be the site of bigger festivals.”

Blue Mountain Rock Festival, 1972 / Courtesy of "Gem of the Mountains 1972", Gem of the Mountains, University of Idaho Library Digital Collections, https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/gem/items/uidaho_gem_1972.html

In the beginning of 1974, plans were introduced to broaden the scope of the festival by adding an arts and crafts element with the hope that this would attract more locals from both the university and the greater community. It was officially dubbed the Renaissance Fair and would run in conjunction with and as an alternative to Blue Mountain. Held at Friendship Square in downtown Moscow for three days starting Friday, May 3rd, it included local artisans and exhibits, demonstrations, and an assortment of dramatic and musical performances.

Meanwhile, even though concerns about Blue Mountain revolved around the need to keep the event small, the preparations taking place seemed to indicate the opposite. A professional sound system was rented out of Portland, Oregon, with various fundraisers planned to cover the $400 price tag. The stage construction was supported by six campus organizations, with assistance from a local building contractor and a cost of $600. The planning committee that oversaw both the Renaissance Fair and Blue Mountain claimed to have over 100 members.

Blue Mountain Rock Festival, 1974 / Courtesy of "Gem of the Mountains 1974", Gem of the Mountains, University of Idaho Library Digital Collections, https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/gem/items/uidaho_gem_1974.html

While the new arts and crafts element was seen as a great success – indeed, it is the predecessor of today’s Renaissance Fair held in East City Park, celebrating its 52nd year on the first weekend of May 2025 – the success, or disaster, of the rock concert varied by who was asked. That year’s UI yearbook, Gem of the Mountains, included a four-page spread of photos from Blue Mountain IV, and noted that an estimated 10,000 participants came from all over the Northwest and Canada in varying stages of dress and undress. One Argonaut editorial called it “a pure sunshine experience” that “radiated good feelings right up to the hassle-free midnight closing when Moscow officials finally moved in to stop the party.” The author went on to laud the 30 or so people who returned the next day to clean up trash. A letter to editor directly below this asks the reader to consider the effects of such large gatherings on the environment, concluding by addressing “the people sitting aloft on a platform in the willow tree [to watch Blue Mountain]. I suggest next time you want to play bird, find a high voltage wire.”

As the spring semester of 1975 commenced, Blue Mountain’s fate again seemed uncertain. University officials and organizers expressed a commitment to keeping the festival small, perhaps having flashbacks of the previous year’s crowd. Several ideas were considered, including changing the name (UI President Ernest Hartung made mention of “The Rites of Spring,” while other popular ideas were “The Gentle Mental Lentil Festival” and “The Palouse Pea Prom.”). Alternative locations were scouted but quickly discarded. The date was changed from the traditional first Sunday of May and the new date would not be announced until the Friday before. In theory this gave less time for news of the event to spread.  

Blue Mountain Rock Festival, 1975 / Courtesy of “Gem of the Mountains 1975", Gem of the Mountains, University of Idaho Library Digital Collections, https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/gem/items/uidaho_gem_1975.html

On Tuesday, April 22nd, The Argonaut broke the story that Blue Mountain V would be held that Sunday, April 27th. The editorial board, led by Kenton Bird, had been asked by event organizers and UI administration not to print the story until Friday. The board explained that any concerns were outweighed by the public’s “right to know” and called the lack of advance notice “unfair” and a “disservice” to students, whose obligations from classes and jobs required the ability to plan ahead for such an event.

Cold weather and the publicity blackout worked to drastically reduce the size of that year’s crowd. Argonaut contributing editor John Hecht called the event “uniquely reflective of the spirit of the school and community. It is singular in that it is now the longest running music event of its type in the country.” Even so, opposition to the festival grew. Many cited illegal activities, underage drinking, and damage to the Arboretum as major concerns. In defense of the festival, UI student John Orwick pointed out that arguments against it are “also arguments against Vandal football. Both draw a large number of out-of-town people […] and widespread drinking takes place at both. The only difference is that Blue Mountain doesn’t lose $150,000 a year.”

Blue Mountain Rock Festival, 1976 / Courtesy of "Gem of the Mountains 1976", Gem of the Mountains, University of Idaho Library Digital Collections, https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/gem/items/uidaho_gem_1976.html

During the runup to ASUI elections in the fall of 1975, many candidates declared Blue Mountain to be a central part of their platforms, and a referendum was placed on the ballot asking students if they supported a music festival of any kind. 76% of student voters chose to keep the Blue Mountain-style festival, while also placing it fully under the responsibility of the ASUI. Even with overwhelming student body support, the likelihood of another festival was again uncertain. The Board of Regents was said to have “strong reservations” and UI’s academic vice president claimed a 1976 Blue Mountain might be illegal.

These issues aside, planning continued, and Blue Mountain VI occurred on May 2, 1976, with much the same entertainment and problems as before. In a memo from President Hartung to the ASUI Senate on June 23rd, Blue Mountain was officially prohibited from being held on campus.

Through six contentious years, it had grown from a quickly-planned, volunteer-led, community-minded gathering of music lovers to a heavily orchestrated and ever more expensive party. “Just an excuse for a bunch of pseudo-radical jerks to get wasted,” as labeled by Betsy Brown in a 1980 Argonaut editorial. But she went on to praise the festival’s generous spirit and the people who kept it going by being “willing to stick their necks out for something they believed in.” Blue Mountain’s unique timing, between the decline of the free rock concerts of the 1960s and the resurgence of major music festivals in the 1990s, speaks to a collective need at that moment in time. Brown adds in her editorial that maybe, even for all its problems, Blue Mountain had served as a kind of pressure release against the gathering tensions of the world. It appeared in 1971 as an antidote to an atmosphere of unrest and paranoia, and Brown mused over the expansion of that same atmosphere nine years later: “Maybe, what this town needs right now is another Blue Mountain.”

Did you attend any of the Blue Mountain Rock Festivals? We’d love to hear about it! Please contact the Latah County Historical Society at lchslibrary@latahcountyid.gov. Special thanks to Ariana Burns of Palouse Anthropology for sharing their extensive research into Blue Mountain. All information in this article was pulled from issues of the University of Idaho Argonaut, made available online by the University of Idaho Library's Digital Collections.