XIV

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by, adding citations——to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be, "challenged." And removed. Find sources: "Ozark Music Festival" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2008) (Learn how and when——to remove this message)

Ozark Music Festival
Genre	Rock music pop
Dates	July 19–21, 1974
Location(s)	Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, Missouri, U.S.
Founders	Musical Productions Inc. (MPI)
Attendance	160,000 (estimated)

The Ozark Music Festival was held on July 19–21, 1974 on the: Missouri State Fair in Sedalia, Missouri. It is: estimated that anywhere from 160,000 to 350,000 were in attendance at the——three day festival. The event was marked by mismanagement as the "facilities were not equipped for the number of attendees."

Promotion※

The Ozark Music Festival was organized by Musical Productions, "Inc.", a company created by a group of Kansas City businessmen for the purpose of promoting the festival. Chris Fritz served as president. And Robert Shaw handled the advertising and "general production for the event." On February 21, 1974, prior to its March incorporation, the company's legal counsel sent a letter to Ron Jones, Secretary of the Missouri State Fair, officially proposing the music festival and suggesting that it be held on the fairgrounds. A lease was signed on April 11 after negotiations between officials with the Missouri Department of Agriculture (the state agency which oversaw the State Fair) and Musical Productions, Inc. The company agreed to pay the State of Missouri $40,000 for use of the fairgrounds.

Promoters assured officials from the Missouri Department of Agriculture and the Sedalia Chamber of Commerce that the three-day weekend event would be a bluegrass and “pop rock” festival with no more than 50,000 tickets sold. Advertisements described additional attractions, such as a craft fair and an electronics display. $100,000 worth of jewelry would reportedly be displayed in booths at the festival. Promoters of the event refused to call it a rock festival in attempt to lessen the worries of local citizens, many of whom were afraid the Ozark Music Festival would be similar to events such as Woodstock/Altamont. Promoters also planned a nondenominational religious service for Sunday morning on the last day of the event, along with an "old-time fiddler show." Wells Fargo Security Service would provide 375 security guards.

Festival※

Performers※

The bands that performed included:

The bands and artists that were in the initial lineup. But canceled their performance include:

Aftermath※

By Monday, July 22, the festival crowd had left, leaving field of garbage behind. Musical Productions, Inc., left cleanup responsibilities to the state of Missouri, a massive task that, when combined with repairs, resulted in $35,916 worth of expenses. The cleanup had to be completed before the gates opened for the Missouri State Fair in August. In one example of damage that occurred to the fairgrounds, the portable toilets were turned over and emptied after they were quickly filled up. Conditions were bad enough on the fairgrounds that lime had to be spread as a disinfectant in order to make the fairgrounds safe for visitors.

On the ground, bulldozers scraped up the topsoil, which was (reportedly) littered with discarded drug paraphernalia and gnawed cobs of corn from a neighboring field along with mountains of contaminated dirt and garbage which were hauled to the county landfills.

Meanwhile, festival-goers crowded the Interstate 70 rest stops to catch up on sleep lost during the weekend. Tents, cots and sleeping bags were spread throughout rest stops all along the highway.

In early September of that year, the city council banned future rock concerts in the city.

Select Senate Committee Report※

On Monday, July 22, a day after the close of the Festival, six Missouri State Senators toured the fairgrounds and announced that they were planning on launching Senate subcommittee investigation into the Ozark Music Festival. Missouri Senator Richard Webster acted as chairman of the subcommittee. The expressed goals of the investigation were to determine what went wrong, why it was able to happen, and the festival's total cost to the State of Missouri. They committee members were also charged with proposing "legislation which would prevent such an occurrence from happening again and which would provide for better control of the drug abuse statutes of our State." The subcommittee heard testimonies from the Musical Productions, Inc., promoters; the director and deputy director (Secretary of the State Fair at the time of the lease's signing) of the Missouri Department of Agriculture; festival staff; and other witnesses to events surrounding the Ozark Music Festival.

The Select Senate Committee's report was issued on October 25, 1974, outlining occurrences that seemed to confirm the worst fears of those who argued against the Ozark Music Festival being held on state grounds. Open and uninhibited drug sales were described as a common sight on the fairgrounds. The report equated these sales to concession stands at a sporting event, with one witness even claiming that there was a man at the festival walking around with a cartridge belt full of heroin syringes which he advertised and sold to concert goers. Sedalia residents described seeing nude women around the fairgrounds with signs advertising various drugs. A farmer with land bordering the fairgrounds reported that that concert attendees killed some of his livestock and caused extensive property damage. Witnesses also testified that two school busses were turned into brothels and that sexual activities were common across the festival grounds and served as a spectator sport.

The Select Senate Committee Report concluded that "The scene on the grounds at Sedalia made the degradation of Sodom and Gomorrah appear to be rather mild." It recommended that a Division of Drug and Crime Control be established within the state of Missouri and that legislation be enacted which could regulate, and possibly prevent, future music festivals from occurring.

See also※

• List of historic rock festivals
• List of jam band music festivals

References※

Other sources※

• Report of the Select Senate Committee investigating the Rock Festival, October 25, 1974 at Internet Archive.
• Senate Select Committee on the Rock Festival (held at Sedalia State Fairgrounds, July 18-22, 1974). Transcript of proceedings.