by Francisco Felix, Cheltenham, Pa

Marisol Malaret was crowned the first of five Miss Universe to represent the island of Puerto Rico (we got beautiful women). In her honor and with the intent of attracting tourism to our beautiful island the Mar y Sol Music Festival was organized in the northern coast town of Vega Baja. It was the first and last festival of this magnitude in the island because although it brought in a lot of tourism dollars, it also brought in a repeat of Woodstock.

Remember that this up to this moment this was a little conservative catholic country that did not even had too many people who spoke English. The media made a big deal of the “hippie fest”, the naked bathing, the open pot smoking and other negative issues. Meantime in the stage we were being treated to almost the same line up as Woodstock with acts like BB King, the Allman Bros, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Alice Cooper, Mahavishnu Orchestra, The Faces with Rod Stewart, Gerry Mulligan, Cactus, Brownsville Station, Bang, Nitzinger and many others who were there I believe for the curiosity if not for the sun.

The crowd was estimated at 150,000 and after the first day it was a free festival because security failed to address the open entry the failed to secure from the beach. I was a college freshman and a rabid fan of rock and roll. Boy did I get a fix that day on all those acts I was always reading about in Rolling Stone and other mags. I have to say that this was a defining moment in rock history because it opened a market for rock in the Caribbean that had been virtually untapped. After this acts like Sly & the Family Stone, Santana and many others made it a yearly event to come and play us. And nothing was ever the same in paradise…