Iola Rock Festival revisited: Memorabilia
To learn more about the 1970 Iola Rock Festival, one only needs to visit with Kurt Krueger.
In 1981 he purchased a portion of the 200 acres where the "Woodtick" festival was held June 26-28, 1970. His property is located north and west of Norseman Hill.
"I vaguely remember reference to (the rock fest) in 1970 and heard more about it later," he recalled. "I learned it would have been fun to come on the first day, but dangerous on the second day.
"It ended a little early on a sour note," he added.
Over the years, Krueger has marveled at the remains of hundreds of fire pits in the main field of the property. He has also found unusual things in the woods, like magazines, cans, bottles, broken glass, sardine cans, drug paraphernalia and a wallet.
The odd items Krueger found led to an urge to gather memorabilia from the 1970 rock festival. He now has photographs, posters and other items in his collection.
"It's kind of cool owning a little slice of history," he stated.
Krueger has also heard rumors of two bodies being buried on the festival grounds.
"I doubt if it's true," he said.
Born in Medford and a graduate of the Mukwonago schools, Krueger moved to Iola from Appleton in 1980. Because of an interest in coin collecting, he had visited Iola often to do freelance work for Krause Publications in the 1970s through the 1980s. He and his wife, Kathy, spent the first night of their 1972 honeymoon in Iola, and they kept coming back.
"We liked Appleton, but thought Iola was a better place to raise a family," he explained. "So this is home."
The documentary
A video and documentary on the Iola Rock Festival is part of Krueger's collection.
The video gave some credence that the event was as described by Portage County Sheriff Nick Check in the July 2, 1970, Iola Herald, "Nice, big, organized, lawless drug party." According to what can be seen in the video, the only part to question in the sheriff's statement is his use of the word "organized."
There was no sign of any organization. People seemed to pay their $15 at the gate, and the rest was chaos. Although there were Acid Rescue Squads, there was no security beyond the gate.
And it was definitely a drug party. Rates were openly displayed on various signs shown in the video.
The following are some discrepancies displayed in the video and documentary:
•It states that there could have been as many as 70,000 people on the rock fest grounds, while official numbers only claim 50,000.
•It reports there were a total of 39 bands at the rock fest, with big names like Chuck Berry and Cheap Trick. All other reports claim that no big names actually came, although they had been advertised to be there. The only big name was Ted Nugent, who was virtually unknown in 1970. Most of the performers were local bands.
•It reports that the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang from Chicago was on the grounds. According to locals, that gang was not there.
•It reports that the event was held in the town of New Hope and the village of Iola. This is definitely incorrect because the village limits are nowhere near the town of New Hope; the town of Iola borders New Hope.
•The documentary mentions that some trouble occurred so the rock fest ended earlier than anticipated. It does not say anything about three people being shot.
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