A legal injunction forced the event to be canceled, keeping the musicians away; but a crowd of 30,000 attendees[1] arrived anyway, to find no food, no entertainment, no adequate plumbing, and at least seventy drug dealers.

The announced line-up of musicians included: Powder Ridge was anticipated to be a significant historical music event, similar to the previous year's Woodstock festival.

[citation needed] Middlefield residents, worried about the impact of the crowd on their small town, obtained an injunction against the festival just days before it began.

Carol Brightman wrote that "Rock shows... such as the Powder Ridge concert... were increasingly being covered by the national media as civil events, one step removed from street demonstrations.

[3] One of these local bands was "The Mustard Family" who, in the dark of night, hauled their instruments and equipment into the festival, by back roads and trails, and performed for the enthusiastic crowd.

[citation needed] The official poster for the festival lists New York band, Haystacks Balboa, as the special opening act on Thursday night.

Instead, last night and this morning, the major pastime here was often shuffling walks along paved roads by grim-faced young men and women who looked remarkably similar to old people moving slowly along the boardwalks of the Rockaways or Atlantic City.