Piper Rock Festival – Lightner Farm – May 24, 1970
46 years ago today in Northeast Ohio music history, the story of the Piper Rock Festival is one of those stories that goes between reality and legend. Biggest question out there for some is “Did it even happen?” The answer is, yes. The Piper Rock Festival was originally scheduled at Peace Park in Akron Ohio on May 24, 1970 with a killer line up of The Rascals, Canned Heat, The Byrds, Kenny Rogers And The First Edition, Cold Blood and many more bands. Tickets went on sale and after over 10,000 tickets were sold the City Of Akron got a restraining order against the promoters of the show. So the promoters of the show went on a search to find a suitable location to hold the concert without letting the authorities know where it would take place. They finally found a place at the Louis Lightner farm in Newton Falls about an hour from Akron near Youngstown. So worried the same thing would happen to them again they actually waited until the day before the show to announce the new location. Even then the Trumbull County Sheriffs Department were told to shut it down the day of the show when an injunction was issued but Sheriff Robert Barnett decided not to enforce the injunction and allowed the show to go on.
(poster courtesy of and available at rawsugarstudio.com)
