The Largest Music Festival in New Jersey’s History You’ve Never Heard Of

We often take a lot of things for granted living here in New Jersey, but this really is one of the most unique spots in the country.

For our little state, we get to experience some absolutely huge things, including world-class concerts and festivals.

The Barefoot Country Music Fest brings over 30,000 people to the beach in Wildwood every summer, Atlantic City's casinos bring big names to the state, the PNC Bank Arts Center and The Freedom Mortgage Pavilion are excellent venues, and, of course, any number of venues up and down the shore are great for hearing some live music.

Mays Landing, NJ’s Forgotten Moment in Music History

But all of that pales in comparison to what happened in the Garden State in the summer of 1969.

And now, almost 56 years later, this may still be the largest live music festival the state has ever seen, which is pretty impressive since we now have MetLife Stadium that holds over 82,000 people.

The Atlantic City Pop Festival: August 1969

On August 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of that year, the Atlantic City Pop Festival was held at the now-closed Atlantic City Race Course in Mays Landing.

Yes, a truly historic event took place at what was then the middle of nowhere and it was attended by 100,000 people.

To put that in perspective, the population of Toms River is about 96,000. Imagine every resident of Toms River making a pilgrimage down the Garden State Parkway, up the Atlantic City Expressway to Exit 12, and then hanging out at a race track for three days.

This multi-day festival had an absolutely amazing line-up of musical acts that included Booker T. & the M.G.'s, Joe Cocker, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, B.B. King, Little Richard, Joni Mitchell, Procol Harum, Santana, and many more legendary bands.

The cost to attend the festival? $15.

For all three days.

To see every band.

There were no special stages where only certain people could see some bands, no limited-access VIP areas, no multi-tiered ticket pricing, and the people at the festival weren't paying $8 for a bottle of water or $11 for beer.

Woodstock’s Overshadowed Predecessor

But for whatever reason, if you ask people to name a huge East Coast music festival that happened in the 1960s, everyone will say, "Woodstock."

The Atlantic City Pop Festival, which happened just a couple of weeks before Woodstock, seems to be lost to history.

There aren't many pictures of it and only a handful of videos have made it to YouTube (most without audio).

So, the next time you drive past the Hamilton Mall or the Atlantic City Race Course, just imagine 100,000 people making a pilgrimage to Mays Landing to see some of the most legendary bands of the '60s perform.

The Atlantic City Race Track Fades into the Past

As for the Atlantic City Race Track, sadly, that has faded into history much like the Pop Festival. The track closed several years ago, and it is now in pretty rough shape...