Today people play disc golf in Milo McIver State Park, southeast of Portland. It’s a great place for a woodsy hike along the Clackamas River. But in 1970 this sleepy park was the site of the nation’s first and only state-sponsored rock concert, when 35,000 young people came here to party while state police looked the other way.
First let me tell you about “Vortex I: A Biodegradable Festival of Life.” Then I’ll try to lure you to the park itself for an easy hike or a bit of disc golf.
In the depths of the Vietnam War in 1970, Gov. Tom McCall had a problem. Anti-war protesters had been active in downtown Portland, but the American Legion announced it was planning its national convention in Portland anyway — with President Nixon as guest speaker. The FBI warned that protesters might tear the city apart.
Should McCall defend Portland by calling in the National Guard? Already that year the National Guard had been asked to confront an anti-war rally at Kent State in Ohio. The guardsmen there had shot four protesters dead…