TRAVERSE CITY -- By the time they got to "Woodstock" they were half a thousand strong.
Wearing tie-dye and peace signs, beads and feathers, baby boomers came to the State Theatre in droves Tuesday and Wednesday to recapture a bit of their youth at anniversary screenings of "Woodstock: The Director's Cut."
Volunteer Jennifer Fenton greeted movie-goers at the door in a pair of orange, yellow and pink capris with a wavy design.
"They're my hippie pants," said Fenton, State Theatre night manager. "I didn't live through (the '60s), but I like to pretend I did. It just seems so relaxed and carefree."
Inside, Sales Manager John Serratelli directed concessions traffic wearing a long, black wig and leather headband.
"This is shorter than my hair was then," said Serratelli, who brought a worn album of Country Joe and the Fish -- one of dozens of music acts that played the Woodstock Music and Art Fair 40 years ago -- to display on the concessions counter.
Like many of those attending the anniversary screenings, Serratelli missed out on the infamous 1969 festival the documentary captures.
"I was enjoying all the comforts that the U.S. Army afforded young men then," he said, referring to serving in the Vietnam War.
At the same time, Thirteenth Circuit Court Judge Thomas Power was attending Minnesota's Carleton College.
"I remember seeing the movie when it first came out -- great music," said Power, who was attending the nearly four-hour screening with his wife. "That's why I wanted to see it again."
Andrea Stewart skipped a meeting of the Grand Traverse County Resource Recovery Council to watch the film.
"I just e-mailed a colleague and said if they hand anything out, pick up one for me, cause there's no way I'm missing 'Woodstock,'" said Stewart, 56, of Traverse City. "It was one of the biggest events of my younger days."
Woodstock helped define a generation and launched teenage beatnik Wavy Gravy on the international stage. The poet, clown and peace activist was supposed to work at a free on-site kitchen, but instead directed security and helped pass out armbands to those behaving responsibly.
Known in some circles as the emcee of Woodstock, he became famous for his life-support stage announcements like, "What we have in mind is breakfast in bed for 400,000," which he said Entertainment Weekly has called one of the most famous entertainment lines of the 20th century.
In Traverse City to promote Friday's "Saint Misbehavin'," a documentary about his life by director Michelle Esrick, the philanthropist and operator of a circus and performing arts camp recalls Woodstock as a unifying event.
"It was when kids from all over America who were thinking they were odd and weird and unusual realized there were half a million of them," said Gravy, who planned to introduce the Wednesday night screening of "Woodstock."
Karen McCarthy, 46, wore a flowing tie-dye sundress, long earrings and necklaces on cords for Tuesday's showing.
"I realized when I was getting dressed that I don't have any peace sign jewelry," said the director of religious education at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Traverse City. "I almost went into my daughter's jewelry box but I thought something might bite me."
McCarthy's daughter was among many representatives of younger generations who planned to take in the film.
"I've seen quite a few parents taking kids -- fathers and sons -- showing them what the days were like," said State Theatre volunteer Josh Mit.
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