Songer teamed up with experienced Detroit disc jockey and promoter, Russ Gibb,[3] and his associate, Tom Wright, to help plan the festival.

Goose Lake Park was built on 390 acres of land,[4] with a budget of $1 million, and was billed as the "world's first permanent festival site".

There were restrooms and showers every 500 feet, medical staff, motorcycle and dune buggy trails, a lake with a beach,[2] and also the "longest slide in the world".

[4] The admission price for the three-day event was $15.00,[4] and entry tokens in the style of poker chips were sold to avoid the counterfeiting of paper tickets.

[2] Before the festival, concerned local officials sought a temporary restraining order to prevent the event, but a judge denied the request.

[6] John Laycock of the Windsor Star praised the festival, writing that "The Organization Men of Goose Lake have resurrected the spirit of Woodstock without the discomforts" and that "the giant amphitheatre was superbly equipped."

Laycock mentioned the performances of Frost, Savage Grace, Chicago, The Flock, Jethro Tull, John Sebastian, Faces, Ten Years After, Mountain and The Flying Burrito Brothers as particularly memorable.

[9] The festival took place at the time of the 25th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and peace groups publicized an anti-nuclear weapons message during the event.

Detroit rock historian David A. Carson wrote that "drugs took center stage"[9] at Goose Lake, and that the park was "reminiscent of Attica" because of the barbed wire topped perimeter fence.