The site
The Monterey International Pop Festival was held at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in the city of Monterey, on the central California coast, on 16, 17 and 18 June 1967. The fairgrounds were not a new setting for music. They had hosted the Monterey Jazz Festival since 1958, so the site already had a stage arena, grounds and a working relationship with the local community. That history helped, because organisers could point to an established event that had run for years without major disruption. The fairgrounds logistics were still a challenge, though, since a pop audience was a different proposition from a jazz crowd.
The main concerts took place in the arena in the evenings, with afternoon sessions on the Saturday and Sunday. The arena had fixed seating for several thousand people, which meant it could not hold the whole audience. Many people who had come to be part of the weekend stayed on the grounds and outside, and the arrangement shaped the character of the event: some attendees saw the stage clearly, while others took in the atmosphere in the surrounding area.
Crowds
Attendance is usually given as around 50,000 people over the three days, but this is an estimate, and it should be read that way. The festival was not a single constant crowd. People came and went, some bought tickets for particular sessions, and many gathered outside the arena. The festival’s rough size, in other words, is better understood as a range than as a precise figure. The surrounding town was also affected, with traffic, visitors in the streets and a large number of young people arriving in a short time.
Press interest in the hippie lifestyle, and in the Haight-Ashbury district’s reputation that spring, meant that mass media coverage of the arrivals was heavy, and the event drew a mixed reception from locals. Reports describe curiosity and some unease among residents, along with cooperation from town officials. As with several other details of the weekend, accounts of how relaxed or tense the atmosphere was differ, and later nostalgic retellings tend to emphasise the peaceful side.
Security and volunteers
Instead of relying on a large paid security force, the festival depended heavily on volunteers, together with the local authorities. Organisers recruited helpers for tasks such as stage management, ticketing, first aid and crowd control. Local police were present, but the general approach is usually described as relaxed. Reports mention a low rate of serious trouble given the size of the crowd, though precise arrest or incident figures are not something to state with confidence.
The reliance on volunteers was both practical and symbolic. With the festival run as a nonprofit, there was limited money, and the workforce reflected the same community spirit that the event aimed to celebrate. It also meant the arrangements were somewhat improvised, and some of the organisation was reported to be hectic as the weekend approached.
Unpaid performers
A notable feature was that the performers were generally not paid fees. Instead, organisers covered travel and expenses, and artists took part on the understanding that proceeds would go to charitable purposes. This reflected the festival’s nonprofit framing, and it was possible partly because the bill included many artists who saw the event as a showcase for their careers.
It did not remove all friction. There were questions about filming rights, running order and treatment of particular acts, and some management teams made demands about whether their artists would be recorded. The most-discussed example involved Big Brother and the Holding Company, the band of Janis Joplin, who ended up with a second set so that their performance could be filmed. Such episodes show that the unpaid arrangement operated alongside real business interests.
The Pennebaker film
The festival was filmed by D. A. Pennebaker, a documentary filmmaker known for direct, observational work, with a team of camera operators. The resulting film, Monterey Pop, was released in 1968. It shows performances and audience scenes, and it contributed more than any other source to the festival’s long reputation.
Filming had a practical effect on the event, since cameras needed to be placed, lit and managed during the performances. It also shaped which parts of the festival are remembered. Acts that were filmed and included in the movie are far more widely known than those that were not, so the picture the public carries of Monterey is in part a result of editing and selection.
What the logistics tell us
The logistics of Monterey show how new such events were in 1967. There was no standard model for a multi-day outdoor pop festival, so the organisers adapted a jazz festival site, relied on volunteers and improvised much of the rest. The relative smoothness of the weekend helped establish the idea that such events could be run safely, a belief that was later tested by larger festivals with greater problems. The experience at Monterey, with its modest scale, its familiar venue and its community backing, was in that sense a favourable one.
That success should not be exaggerated. The festival worked partly because the setting was contained and the audience was, by later standards, still manageable.