Peachtree 1972

sigmore · Post by **sigmore** » Sun November 28, 2010, 7:32 pm

AND I MISSED IT!!!!!! I was going to electronics school in Kentucky and I missed the biggest party Richmond county EVER HAD!!! Oh well, at least Mama wasn't mad at me.

Bill Pearce · Post by **Bill Pearce** » Sat January 8, 2011, 11:55 am

This link will take you to photos of the 2nd act of the day at Peachtree, the all girl band Birtha. These are photos taken of them on stage at the speedway. As I recall they followed a band called The Fabulous Rhinestones from Woodstock, NY. Birtha blew their doors off.

http://www.birtharocks.com/picture1.html

Bill Pearce · Post by **Bill Pearce** » Sat January 8, 2011, 12:02 pm

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SonFKwygT-I[/youtube]

Bill Pearce · Post by **Bill Pearce** » Sat January 8, 2011, 1:05 pm

Some more stuff on Peachtree I found from a native of Richmond County.
Be sure to read the comments on this article.

http://eighthdistrictdemsnc.blogspot.co ... alice.html

Bill Sapp · Post by **Bill Sapp** » Sat January 8, 2011, 9:13 pm

I have a good friend who attended Peachtree Festival and is always on the look out for information about it. I'll be sure to pass this along.

Bill Sapp

Post by **David** » Sun January 9, 2011, 4:23 pm

pictures furnished by Steve Clarke taken by Twig Gravely.

Post by **David** » Sun January 9, 2011, 4:44 pm

pictures furnished by Steve Clarke taken by David Butler.

Steve C · Post by **Steve C** » Sun January 9, 2011, 7:41 pm

The guy David Butler who supplied me with the photos can be seen in the one with two guys standing on the banking at the track. He's the main subject of the photo.

Thanks for contacting me David (Lindsey) about the concert!

With your site, mine and the group on Facebook (Survivors of the Peachtree Celebration 1972 North Carolina Motor Speedway) maybe, just maybe, we can get more feedback from those people that aren't from our area to respond!

Anyone reading this can also visit: http://www.peachtree72.com to listen to some songs from that era by the bands that played.

David, any new info I get I'll pass it along to you as well. Most of the responses I get from people at the peachtree72.com site are mostly people sharing their memories. And all have gave me permission to share them with others. I just need to find the time to spend getting that site updated!

BTW, love the ourhamlet.org site! Last time I lived in Richmond County (18 years ago) was on Boyd's Lake. I rented a doublewide from Bob Boyd just as you pass the old dam there.

Bruce Brown · Post by **Bruce Brown** » Thu January 13, 2011, 5:19 pm

I well remember this event. I don't think it's anything for Richmond County to be proud of. Many of the dregs of society were there. Wayne Fuller and myself got off our railroad jobs a 11:30 pm that nite and decided to ride up to the track and see what was going on. What we saw was a site for sore eyes. Hippies were wandering all thru the woods , like zombies, stoned out of their minds. I saw a young teenage girl, with a small child in her arms, blowing reefer smoke into it's mouth. Pitiful.

Sheriff Raymond Goodman said that another event like this one would never come back to Richmond County while on his watch. I hope the mega bucks backers lost their donkeys on this event. These were the hippy punks who spit on our Vietnam war vets as they returned stateside.

Bill Dennis · Post by **Bill Dennis** » Fri January 14, 2011, 12:10 am

Bruce, you are right it was not anything to be proud of because I was working as a special deputy during the Peachtree Celebration in 1972 at North Carolina Motor Speedway and saw things i could not believe going on at the race tract. I remember a large group of the hippies stormed the chain link fence and it went over to the ground like it was nothing, there were so many of them all we could do was watch as then went inside. I think what broke my heart the most was seeing young girls doped up with a young baby on their back.

Jody Meacham · Post by **Jody Meacham** » Fri January 14, 2011, 5:34 pm

I wasn’t at Peachtree, and I don’t doubt Bruce or Bill’s accounts of what happened there.

But if public intoxication, child endangerment and unruly crowds were all it took for a county to ban the events that spawn that behavior, NASCAR would never have been allowed to run a lap at the speedway. Nor would they play football games in Chapel Hill or Charlotte. I’ve been to all of those events.

Just as important as the public nuisance factor in getting an event banned is who creates the nuisance and whether or not they rub local authority the wrong way.

Bill Dennis · Post by **Bill Dennis** » Fri January 14, 2011, 6:37 pm

Jody,

I agree with you about what goes on at most sporting events, I have been to a number of college basketball & football games and was shocked
at the things I have seen and heard at these events.
I worked at a lot of NASCAR events at the speedway and worked the dragstrip, but I will say this, Everything I saw at these events put together
does not compare with the Peachtree Celebration in 1972 at North Carolina Motor Speedway.
Jody, I enjoyed meeting you at the Book Signing December 27th at The Hamlet Historic Depot & Museum and enjoyed reading your book.
I hope it is a best seller.
Bill

Jody Meacham · Post by **Jody Meacham** » Sun January 16, 2011, 5:26 pm

Thanks, Bill. I created an excuse for myself if the book doesn't reach best-seller status by leaving a couple of copies at the Hamlet library. If book sales fall short, it's because people read the free copies.

Julie Jones · Post by **Julie Jones** » Tue May 21, 2013, 4:34 pm

Jody, I went to Peachtree with Bridget Gibbons, and some other girls. You were working on the railroad. I thought I wanted to be a "hippie" but when I got home all I wanted was a bath and some cold water. It was a great event and I am glad to have been a part of it. Daddy took Mudder riding through the countryside the days before the event to let her see the people bathing in ponds and camping everywhere.

OURHAMLET.ORG

Peachtree 1972

Peachtree 1972

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