By Cat Robertson – Staff Writer

Peace, love and the faint scent of patchouli were in the air at the Green Valley Lake Woodstock festival last Saturday afternoon. A handful of vendors were there and the Mountain Community Alliance (MCA}, which sponsored Saturday afternoon’s portion of the weekend’s events, awarded two scholarships to a pair of outstanding young ladies who just graduated from Rim High School.

Neva Hidajat, Rim High’s 2023 valedictorian, and Adeline Epstein, the school’s salutatorian, each received $1,000 scholarships from the MCA. Hidajat will be going to Stanford and Epstein is off to Cal State San Bernardino.

Sandi Huckaby of the Mountain Community Alliance is pictured with Neva Hidajat, left, and Adeline Epstein, who were awarded scholarships at the Green Valley Lake Woodstock Festival. (Photo by Pat Huckaby)

“They’re delightful young women,” commented Sandi Huckaby of the MCA. “Neva plays violin. We got to play music with them at a fundraiser at the Lake Arrowhead resort. There was an auction and a dinner at the event.”

Huckaby said she volunteered with the two young ladies at the Mountain Thrift Shoppe in Blue Jay. “The money earned there goes to your favorite charities,” she noted. “We got to know them and the MCA wanted to help them with the expense of college, so we gave them scholarships. Every little bit helps when you’re in school.”

The Green Valley Lake Allstar Band entertained the crowd in the community garden Saturday afternoon. The music was great. The band had the crowd cheering and strolling down memory lane as they played one hit after another from the Woodstock era.

Singer Heather Hein sang classics including “Me and Bobby McGee” by Janis Joplin and hits by The Byrds, Crosby, Stills and Nash and, of course, The Grateful Dead.

“I was driving through town and the Woodstock Festival was going on,” Hein said to the crowd, “and the band was playing this next song. I said, ‘This is where I want to live!’ And you’ve been stuck with me ever since!” And they went on to play “Up on Cripple Creek” by The Band.

“I liked the music,” said Running Springs resident Keiko Mullaly. “I really enjoyed it. It was nice because I was able to relate. It was music from my childhood.”

Roxanne Dean and Brad Runsick, owners of Black Dog Social Club and Shoppe, sponsored the weekend’s events on Friday and Saturday night They had music by Jacob and Shannon, Service Interrupted and Steve Devotion.

“Friday, Jacob and Shannon and Service Interrupted played,” Dean said. “They’ve played at Black Dog before. Jacob and Shannon are in Service Interrupted. They played acoustic for the first half and electric for the second. They were very fun.”

Kaiden Hunt, 9, attended the Green Valley Lake Woodstock festival with her grandmother Keiko Mullaly. She thought the music was all right, but a bit “too loud.” Her favorite part of the day was playing with Timber, a beautiful golden retriever who stole her heart. (Photo by Cat Robertson)

Dean said on Saturday night Steve Devotion played cover tunes from the 50s to 2000s. “He plays music from all genres,” she explained. “He’s very talented. Every month, he plays at Black Dog. On Labor Day he’ll come up and do some country music. We had a good weekend. Everyone had fun.”

“We got lucky. There was not a drop of rain today, not even thunder,” Huckaby said on Saturday afternoon. “The Woodstock god was smiling on us.”

Dean said she canceled Sunday’s event because of the storm. It’s a good thing she did because it rained all day long in Green Valley Lake. It came down really hard and the wind howled like a wolf in the night.

The original idea for the Woodstock Festival came from a group of friends sitting around a kitchen table. They wanted to do something fun for the community. Dean, Runsick, Huckaby and Green Valley Lake resident John Giarelli were among them, when Giarelli suggested celebrating the 50^th anniversary of Woodstock with a concert of their own. They agreed that was a great idea so they moved forward with the idea.

The friends worked together to pull it off, and it was a smashing success. That was in 2019 and they have held the concerts every year since then, except 2020, due to COVID.

Huckaby mentioned she was really glad they didn’t have to cancel the day because the band worked hard practicing.

“The harmony was tight,” she said. “They worked hard to get it right for Crosby, Stills and Nash.”

Mulally said she had not attended any of the other three Woodstock Festivals in the past and she really enjoyed the vibe. “It was quaint,” she said. “It was like neighbors just hanging out together. I enjoyed the memories of the music from my past. I loved that it was the community together.”

Unfortunately, the day’s happiness was marked by sadness after local resident Laura Ann Carelton was murdered over a dispute about a gay Pride flag. The weekend’s events were dedicated in memory of Carelton.