Woodstock? Nope. This fest was in Prairieville, Louisiana

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Fifty years ago, a couple of weeks after the Woodstock music festival drew hundreds of thousands to farmland in New York, there was a smaller, bayou-country re-enactment of sorts.

It was called the New Orleans Pop Festival, although it took place 60 miles away in Prairieville. It featured several of the same acts as Woodstock, including Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, and Country Joe & the Fish.

Also on hand was Deacon John, who at 78 is still a renowned New Orleans performer. He recalls the festival, which drew an estimated 30,000, as an effort to show that the peace-and-love movement resounded in the Deep South, despite the region’s reputation for racism.