A group of artists and longtime residents have breathed new life into the semi-moribund Woodstock Chamber of Commerce & Arts. About a year ago, Rachel Marco-Havens, daughter of Richie Havens, partnered with Shala Lang-Moll, daughter of Woodstock concert producer Michael Lang. They wanted to rent the small building on Rock City Road that served as the Chamber information booth. One thing led to another. They are now co-presidents of the business group.
How did that happen?
“We reached out to the Chamber, because we realized that this building had been abandoned. There were people like there are now, sitting there looking for shelter,” Marco-Havens said. “We thought: Either make it a warming station or give it to us.”
The pair told the Chamber they wanted to turn the little building into a shop to showcase the crafts produced by local artisans.
“There’s not one person on this block that has actual adjacency to the Woodstock Festival story,” Marco-Havens said. “From Bearsville to Cucina in either direction — not one store can you walk into and speak to somebody who actually has a relationship in a deep way, certainly not the family, to the Woodstock Festival story that sells this town. So we said, We know all the artists and creatives. You’ll finally be able to say that there’s a store in town where the Woodstock Dove might sit. Not just a t-shirt, but meet the family.”
The pair enjoy adjacency. Marco-Havens’ father was a headlined perfomer at the fabled 1969 festival in Bethel, and Lang’s father had been the lead organizer.
Can you just do it?
For a while, they didn’t hear from anyone on the Chamber board about their request. But then, in September, they were handed the key to the information booth.
“So we started to paint it, and we revived it and we cleaned it up. And we put a lot of work into bringing the building up to full speed, making sure that it was safe, making sure that it was alive again,” Marco-Havens said. “They [the Chamber] said, We love what you’re doing [with the shop there]. This is what we wanted to do the whole time, and we got hit with the pandemic. So when they saw us come, it was like this bright, shiny light that was like, Wow, there’s revival in the space. We’re past our term limits [on the Chamber board]. They said, Can you take it?”
The Chamber had been on the edge of dissolution.
“We said we wanted it [the shop], and we will hold your materials. We know where everything is. So kind of we were doing it, anyway. Then they said, Can you actually just do it?” Lang-Moll said.
The former board members couldn’t get anyone to replace them. They are now advisors to the new board.
New Paltz recently shuttered its Chamber of Commerce. A lot of other Chambers aren’t functioning.
Marco-Havens and Lang-Moll had no plans to take over the Chamber, but they say they are now having fun.
Their next step was organizing a board representing the community.
Craftsman Noel Chrisjohn Benson, Maverick Concerts director of operations LuAnn Bielawa, Applehead Recording Studio director Michael Birnbaum, real-estate agent Pieta Williams, Bianca’s Framing Piazza owner Bianca Gallagher, Seasoned Gives Executive Director Tamika Dunkley, Nancy’s Artisanal Creamery owner Kathryn Spata, Woodstock Film Festival Community Relations Manager Teressa DelCampo, medicine keeper and educator Poppy Jones and artists Crystle Maillet and Leigha Eyster agreed to serve.
A bucket-list destination
One of the big hurdles is gaining support from the business community.
“This is the thing that we’ve learned, again, and again, most of these businesses don’t feel that they need to pay money for advertising, because that’s what they think the Chamber of Commerce is, is a PR firm,” Marco-Havens said. “Because this is Woodstock, because people come here anyway, because it’s a bucket-list destination. But if we want to help create a thriving industry, plus an artisan colony, we have to think about people coming back.”
To that end, the Chamber is now working on annual events that will draw people to the town more than once. The new Chamber plans a year-full of events, including the weekend of August 15-17 for the 55th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival. It favors an event recognizing the history of Woodstock, including the role of such unique organizations as the 110-year-old Maverick Concerts and Family of Woodstock.
“History is important,” said Bielawa, who ran a Bob Dylan birthday celebration for several years as a fundraiser for Family. “Family of Woodstock wouldn’t have happened if not for the Woodstock Festival. That’s what brought all the people here who needed the help. To me, it’s such an amazing story and should be a movie.”
New people don’t have a relationship with the community, Marco-Havens argued. They were putting things in stores that they thought people wanted to buy.
“We don’t need three tattoo artists,” she said. “This is our question. Are you here for the land or the brand, the community or the commodity? We’re here for the land and the community. And we recognize the importance of commodity and brand identity. But we know the difference.”
What people perceive as the town commercial district needs to be extended, Bielawa said. “When visitors come, they just think this is [the] town,” Bielawa said, pointing to Tinker Street and Mill Hill Road. “And people have businesses all the way to Bearsville.”
The resuscitated Chamber has been involved in the opposition to a proposed noise ordinance to limit live outdoor amplified music in Woodstock.
Join the family! 
