Scarborough Fair (UK) vs Woodstock (USA)

IT'S ON!
What camp are you in, beadful headbanders with flowers in their hair (and LSD in their bloodstream)? Or flowing neck-to-ankle 'kirtle' tunics, sleeveless jackets (the prequel to muscle shirts) and a little bustle in your hedgerow?

Forty years ago Saturday the world's most famous three-day testament to peace, LSD and jams hit the (upstate) New York skies in a field nowhere near, relatively speaking, its namesake, Woodstock. Traditionalist Brits -- who sat out the event (see the blog Traditionalist Brits Against Woodstock) -- have protested ever since, noting how an American upstart timed its opening as the same day as a Medieval event on England's east coast called Scarborough Fair. (True fact: both events began on August 15.)

And the gloves have been off ever since.

--> Let's VOTE to decide who would win in a fight: Woodstock or Scarborough Fair.
Please hit the buttons to the right this week to determine, democratically (something medieval Scarborough couldn't comprehend). Voting ends 3pm Friday Woodstock time.

GAUGING THE EVENTS
Before you click twixt or twaxt, consider these four factors of festivals and fairs.

"EVENT SUCCESS"
I wondered what makes a festival a success, so I called Mr Orvis Melvin of Waxahachie, Texas' Scarborough Renaissance Festival. The festival, which turns 29 next April, was named after the Simon and Garfunkel version of "Scarborough Fair."Melvin said he would have preferred to have been at Woodstock ("a historical thing we're still talking about"). Regarding success, he offered these nuggets.

'A successful festival is when people can walk in and sort of forget all the myriad of problems, small and large. It's pure escapism. And you get an enormous variety of stimulus -- the smells of food, the sounds of music and cries of hawkers, the colors of costumes and signs.'

Edge: Woodstock


"INTEGRITY"
Some critics have suggested Woodstock was naive, or a manipulation of yuppie businessmen looking to rake in on hippie fanaticism. But then again, Scarborough Fair was just a mall. Merely a 45-day trade fair with artisans in cloaks SELLING the things they made.

On the other hand, Mr Melvin noted how renaissance and medieval fairs in the US are not a "faithful re-creation." He added, "Americans are great at creating worlds that never existed." Even his fair? "We try to limit the reality of the times -- the plague, the filth, the crushing poverty."

Analysis: draw.

"THE MUSIC"
Compare



with


Edge: Woodstock

"LEGACY"
While Scarborough Fair remains known for its bizarre ask-for-the-impossible song -- which infuriates me, for one -- the fair itself didn't warrant a mention in Lonely Planet's new entry for Scarborough -- and the town's website seems more keen about its cricket festival than the fair, which has no mention. Woodstock has had a scattering of sequels and one really bad song devoted to it. But nothing as thuggish as these demands.

Slight edge: Woodstock

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Who wins? It's up to you.
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--> Reader result: Woodstock over Scar Fair, 3-1, with two votes for a draw.