Local Artist Has Better Idea for Woodstock Way Sign

I think it’s kind of nice when a road or highway gets a “name” in honor of an important person, people or event. In the Woodstock area of Ulster County, Route 375 between Routes 28 and 212 is now also called Levon Helm Memorial Boulevard in honor of the drummer of The Band. The Band and Levon especially had and have strong ties to Woodstock. Levon’s Barn still holds Midnight Rambles even though he died years ago. It’s a great honor to Levon, his family and friends. It was planned and executed well.

In Sullivan County, there has also been a highway that’s been “named” to honor one of the most important events in the world and certainly the most important in Sullivan County. Signs have been erected on Route 17B to commemorate the 1969 Festival and the fact that this was the road that ultimately brought almost half a million people to the Woodstock Arts and Music Festival in Bethel. There are two signs, and they read  “The Woodstock Way”. Well, one local artist has a bit of an issue with “The Woodstock Way”, and thinks he has a better idea that would be an easy fix.

Paul Kean, local artist, photographer and musician, has a problem with the signs. His problem? Here’s a quote from his Facebook post. Paul writes…  "The - used as a pronoun?… completely unnecessary. We don't say the Rt 17B OR the Rt 52 OR the Rt 17 etc. Simply “Woodstock Way” conveys the message.”  His proposal? Simply replace the “The” with a peace sign. It’s only two signs, and he’s an artist. It does sound like a great idea and an easy fix. He even included an image of what the signs would look like after the simple modification, and I must admit, they would look pretty darn good. Check out the picture above.

So, what do you think? Does the “The” in the signs bother you? Is Paul Kean’s idea a good one? He also would like to see a little color added to the signs since it was such a colorful event. That would also look great, but one thing at a time I guess. Will the right people see his idea? Paul seems to have a lot of support on his facebook page, but they’re not the people that make the decisions. We’ll see what happens, and I’ll be sure to keep you posted.