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TechnographSpotlight: The lost protester
By Maureen Wilkey
Posted: 8/31/05 Section: Features
"Just got home from Illinois, lock the front door, oh boy! Got to sit down, take a rest on the porch..."
Rumor has it that John Fogerty wrote those lyrics after returning home from the Incident at Kickapoo Creek, a concert in Heyworth, Ill., just 44 miles outside of Champaign, in 1970.
"The concert is the most successful rock festival you've never heard of," said R.C. Raycraft, a documentarian who showed his film about the concert, entitled The Incident at Kickapoo Creek, to an audience of about 60 people at Lincoln Hall Theater on Aug. 29. Many audience members had themselves attended the concert.
"It's really relevant to today's college students. This is the first time since then that people (their) age are being killed in a war," Raycraft said. "I'm really trying to raise awareness and get reactions by showing the film on campus."
The film begins with shots of the University campus being overtaken by protestors in May of 1970. Student protests following the Kent State shootings caused widespread chaos throughout the University. Eventually the National Guard had to step in to retake control. Raycraft said he was surprised that more students at the University today were not protesting the war in Iraq.
The film took Raycraft about ten years to complete and includes dozens of interviews from festival attendees and organizers, bands who played at the festival, a preacher who went to the festival to prevent immorality among the youth and even a Pepsi distributor who sold concessions at the festival. He tracked down key players in the festival's organization, numerous newspaper articles about the event, and hours of footage shot by police at the festival.
The concert itself took place on May 30, 1970, but people were camped out at the festival several days beforehand to see musicians like B.B. King, Ted Nugent, Canned Heat and then local college band R.E.O. Speedwagon. Rumors flew that The Who and Eric Clapton would appear and that the Beatles would reunite for the concert, although these claims proved to be false. The festival drew about 60,000 people to the town, which only had a population of 14,000.
Rumor has it that John Fogerty wrote those lyrics after returning home from the Incident at Kickapoo Creek, a concert in Heyworth, Ill., just 44 miles outside of Champaign, in 1970.
"The concert is the most successful rock festival you've never heard of," said R.C. Raycraft, a documentarian who showed his film about the concert, entitled The Incident at Kickapoo Creek, to an audience of about 60 people at Lincoln Hall Theater on Aug. 29. Many audience members had themselves attended the concert.
"It's really relevant to today's college students. This is the first time since then that people (their) age are being killed in a war," Raycraft said. "I'm really trying to raise awareness and get reactions by showing the film on campus."
The film begins with shots of the University campus being overtaken by protestors in May of 1970. Student protests following the Kent State shootings caused widespread chaos throughout the University. Eventually the National Guard had to step in to retake control. Raycraft said he was surprised that more students at the University today were not protesting the war in Iraq.
The film took Raycraft about ten years to complete and includes dozens of interviews from festival attendees and organizers, bands who played at the festival, a preacher who went to the festival to prevent immorality among the youth and even a Pepsi distributor who sold concessions at the festival. He tracked down key players in the festival's organization, numerous newspaper articles about the event, and hours of footage shot by police at the festival.
The concert itself took place on May 30, 1970, but people were camped out at the festival several days beforehand to see musicians like B.B. King, Ted Nugent, Canned Heat and then local college band R.E.O. Speedwagon. Rumors flew that The Who and Eric Clapton would appear and that the Beatles would reunite for the concert, although these claims proved to be false. The festival drew about 60,000 people to the town, which only had a population of 14,000.
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