| Erie Canal Soda Pop Festival | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Rock, pop |
| Dates | Labor Day weekend (September 2–4), 1972 |
| Location(s) | Bull Island, White County, Illinois |
| Years active | 1972 |
| Founders | Tom Duncan and Bob Alexander |
| Attendance | est. 300,000 |
| Capacity | 55,000 |
The Erie Canal "Soda" Pop Festival, also known colloquially as the Bull Island Rock Festival, was a rock festival held on September 2–4, 1972, on Bull Island, a strip of land in Illinois but on the Indiana side of the Wabash River near Griffin. A crowd of an estimated 200,000 to 300,000 people attended the concert, four times what the promoters had estimated. Food and water were in short supply, and the gathering descended into relative chaos amidst heavy rains and a lack of security. Many of the scheduled acts canceled their performances due to safety concerns. After the festival concluded, the remnants of the crowd rioted and burned the main stage.[1][2]
- ^ Evansville Courier & Press 150th Anniversary Special Section Archived 2007-03-07 at the Wayback Machine, January 8, 1995.
- ^ Woodstock on the Wabash: The Bull Island rockfest, 40 years later, September 2, 2012.