Forget the Sixties, Woodstock has been rocking with artists and creativity since 1902

As thousands descend once again on Woodstock for its 50th anniversary festival, resident Sunshine Flint explains why it remains the most famous small town in America

Woodstock back in 1970. The festival is 50 this year (Rex Features)

If you stand on the village green of Woodstock, New York, with the white spire of the 200-year-old Dutch Reformed Church behind you, you will see a charming small town of low clapboard buildings, one with expensive coffee shops, an independent bookstore, and pricey boutiques, but no chain stores and not a single traffic light.

You’ll see couples wandering in and out of the art galleries, small kids licking icecream cones, and groups of millennials up for the weekend from New York City rolling in for brunch. And if you stand there long enough this summer, you’ll likely see some confused tourists rock up and ask for directions to “where the festival was held.” They won’t be the first to be told it’s about 50 miles that-a-way.

Growing up in Woodstock I had to deliver the same news more than once. This August is the 50th anniversary of the most famous music festival in the world, but like the original 1969 concert, the official celebrations won’t come within miles of the Catskill Mountains town it’s named after. Fans will congregate in Bethel Woods, near Max Yasgur’s farm, to see some of the big acts of the 1960s such as Santana and John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival (both played those muddy fields 50 years ago), as well as Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band, while the town will carry on in its own fashion, business as always. (The Woodstock 50 festival promoted by original Woodstock co-founder Michael Lang won’t be taking place.)