Baez was a Big Sur-festival regular whose folk music workshop at Esalen in 1965 helped attract pop/rock acts later to the festival.

Celebration begins with Baez opening the festival with Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released" and closes with her leading a large crowd in singing "Oh Happy Day" in the event's finale.

Here, fortified by session drummer Dallas Taylor and Motown bassist Greg Reeves, CSNY perform Young's "Sea of Madness" and "Down by the River".

[9] In addition to CSNY, Baez and Mitchell, other performers featured in Celebration included John Sebastian, Dorothy Combs Morrison and The Combs Sisters, Mimi Fariña, Carol Ann Cisneros, Julie Payne, Chris Ethridge and The Struggle Mountain Resistance Band.

[4] While Ruthann Friedman, The Flying Burrito Brothers and The Incredible String Band performed at this event,[3][10] they do not appear in the film.