The now-legendary Woodstock Art and Music Fair is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and its lasting message of peace, love and unity lives on in the most unlikely of places… like this 1963 Volkswagen Microbus for example, which was specially painted for the event by artist Dr Bob Hieronimus for its owner. He wanted a magic bus for his band to use for the upcoming music festival and that is how the ‘Light’ bus came into being. This is not the actual bus from all those years ago—that’s long-lost, sadly—but a loving recreation of that iconic vehicle. The story behind it has now been made into a documentary.
That psychedelic original featured in the liner of the official Woodstock album and caught the attention of the broader public too after a picture of the bus was circulated in national newspapers and magazines. Now, many decades later Hieronimus and Canadian documentarian John Wesley Chisholm decided to recreate this special bus and have it ready for the festival’s 50th anniversary. Having no luck in locating the original, the duo instead sourced an identical T2 model and spent three years turning it into the mesmerizing visual presence you see here.
The journey was anything but smooth sailing but thanks to a successful Kickstarter funding round and assistance by Volkswagen of America as well as a team of Volkswagen fans, the ‘Light’ bus replica is now spreading the messages of peace and unity once again. “The bus is really about being one people on one planet,” says Hieronimus, who is also a symbologist. “On every side of the bus is a story—many stories—and the stories all point to unification, working together and a higher consciousness, which is what Light really is all about.” The documentary titled ‘The Woodstock Bus’ chronicles this fascinating journey and is available to view on CuriosityStream, an on-demand streaming service.
Images courtesy of Volkswagen
