Remember the famous photograph of a couple at Woodstock, immortalised on the 1970 Woodstock triple-vinyl album cover?
The couple, Nick and Bobbi Ercoline, has just revealed that they are still happily together. They only found out that their photo was taken when they saw the LP sleeve.
They were both just 20 years old when Life photographer Burk Uzzle, photographed them on 18th August 1969. Nick and Bobbi were a new couple of three months and it would be two years after that before they got married. Fifty years later, the Ercoline couple remains together.
In a new interview, the Ercolines said that they identified themselves when listening to the LP for the first time with friends in May 1970. "We were passing the jacket around when someone pointed out the staff with the orange and yellow butterfly," Nick told AARP. "That belonged to Herbie, a guy from Huntington Beach, Calif. He was lost and having a bad trip, and we hooked arms with him until he was clear-headed. Then we saw the blanket. Oh my lord, that's us!"
Bobbi added that she should've told her mother that she had gone to Woodstock.
The couple and a friend lived just less than an hour from the festival site and decided to make their way to Woodstock after local media advised people not to travel. After facing several police roadblocks, the trio abandoned their car and walked the rest of the way.
"We found the blanket on the way and picked it up," Bobbi said. "We had not come prepared. We didn't have tickets. We just took the challenge, and we didn't know what to expect. There were thousands of people walking miles and miles, carrying sleeping bags and instruments, and lots of stuff got discarded. When we got on that hill, we couldn't see the stage, but we had amazing sound."
Bobbi argued, "It wasn't about the artists. … What I remember the most was the people, the sea of humanity and the commotion all around us. It assaulted your senses, and it was so darn exciting. We had never experienced anything like this."
She recalled that the attendees survived solely on food handouts from locals while enduring horrendous weather. She explained, "At my age now, it would be awful, but when you're 20 and falling in love, it's not an issue. We stood on our patch of ground. I don't think we realised what was really going on until afterwards when you started hearing the news reports. There were no phones, no texting. We had no idea how many people were there."
"We were just regular kids in small-town U.S.A.," Nick said, arguing that Woodstock had quickly turned into "old news" because of the massive mess left behind at the festival site. "We had similar ideals of our generation, and the war was a big deal. But we didn't see the racial strife that other people saw. Growing up in a small town, we just got along with everybody."
The Ercolines, both aged 70, will mark their 48th wedding anniversary later this month. They have two sons and four grandchildren together. When asked upon their secret to a happy marriage, Bobbi answered, "Don't stay mad. People don't grow at the same rate. You have to be willing to let the other catch up or vice versa. It's never 50-50."
