Vortex I

The festival was meant to demonstrate the positive side of the anti-War Movement and to prevent violent protests during a planned appearance by President Richard Nixon at a convention of the American Legion.

In 1970, President Nixon scheduled an appearance at the national American Legion convention in Portland, Oregon,[1][5] in order to promote the continuation of the Vietnam War.

[6] A coalition of Portland-based anti-Vietnam War groups, called the People's Army Jamboree, planned a series of demonstrations and other anti-war activities, to be held at the same time as the convention.

[citation needed] A loose association of Portland counterculture groups banded together to devise a strategy that would highlight the best parts of the newly-evolving peace community.

Koinonia House, a peace-activist Christian group hosted a public meeting and from there the idea of a "Biodegradable Festival of Life" called Vortex 1 came into being.

On the busiest day of the festival, a line of automobiles ran 18 miles (30 km) from the park gates to southeast Portland.

[citation needed] Per agreement with the governor, the police and the Oregon National Guard largely ignored non-violent offenses[2] such as drug use and public nudity, both of which were present at the festival.

The media reported that many prominent national acts of the time would appear, including Santana, Jefferson Airplane, and Grateful Dead, but none did.

We took a park, twenty miles (32 km) south of Portland, and turned it into an overnight bivouac and disco party.…There was a lot of pot smoking and skinny dipping, but nobody was killed.