1972

PICNIC? No, the Dripping Springs Reunion was held March 17-19.
WHAT HAPPENED:The Dripping Springs Reunion was, essentially, the Picnic prototype. Roy Acuff, for one, was excited about the idea, proclaiming it could “turn the entire country music industry completely around” and had more “potential as a lasting event” than the Newport Jazz Festival (which is still going strong). The Reunion attracted 25,000 fans over three days, but promoters had planned for as many as 75,000 a day. Despite later reports, it was not a Willie Nelson-organized event – a press release and early newspaper stories didn’t even mention that he was part of the lineup.
LINEUP: Included Loretta Lynn, Bill Monroe, Hank Snow and Tex Ritter.
QUOTE: “The first reunion was a success in every way but financially,” bragged one promoter to the American-Statesman. That, apparently, was enough. Despite brave talk, Dripping Springs Reunion II didn’t happen. 

1973

PICNIC? Yes, July 4 in Dripping Springs.
WHAT HAPPENED: Willie was unfazed that the Dripping Springs Reunion had lost money. He wanted his own outdoor festival and, as March had already passed by, settled on the Fourth of July. He returned to the Dripping Springs ranch that had hosted the Reunion, this time bringing 40,000 hippies, rednecks and the rest of the Willie crowd. The Picnic lost money, but launched a Texas tradition.


LINEUP: Included Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, John Prine, Doug Sahm and Tom T. Hall.
QUOTE: Journalist Jan Reid paints a broad picture of the Picnic in his book “The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock,” but Billy Porterfield said it shorter in a 20-year look back in the Statesman: “It was miserable and it was great, one of the glorious heathen stomps between the Americas of J. Edgar Hoover, Joe McCarthy and Ronald Reagan. Many had come the evening before and spent the night passing stories and hits around campfires.”

1974
PICNIC? Yes, July 4-6 in College Station.
WHAT HAPPENED: For three days, fans baked in the shadeless infield of the Texas World Speedway just south of College Station. Promoters said they would sell tickets for only 50,000 a day, but news reports from the first two days say crowds were about half that. The Picnic was a hit its second year, but may be best remembered for the fire in the parking lot that claimed about a dozen cars, including one belonging to a young Robert Earl Keen (as well as one belonging to an Abilene man who later sued for $3,594 in damages).


LINEUP: Included Jimmy Buffett, Townes Van Zandt and Kinky Friedman.
QUOTE: In a Texas Monthly article later that year, William Martin described in detail the legions of hippies (“picking one’s way through a crowd of 25,000 people, sitting or lying next to one another like stricken pilgrims at the Ganges, is a delicate maneuver at best”), gratuitous nudity (“As they jiggled and swayed bare-breasted through several long numbers, the plight of the fifth girl became apparent and poignant. Less abundantly blessed than her sisters … she could not disrobe without revealing less than she cared to”), ever-present drugs (“By late afternoon the combination of sun, alcohol and drugs had taken a terrible toll … hundreds slumped around in a red-eyed stupor as if the life had gone out of them”) and, occasionally, some excellent music (“Waylon Jennings got a good reception with his hard-driving music about men that represent poor marital risks”).


 1975
PICNIC? Yes, July 4 in Liberty Hill.
WHAT HAPPENED:The small town in Williamson County was not prepared for a wave of more than 70,000 picnic fans, and neither were the promoters. A dire lack of portable toilets led to desecrations of the “shrubs and front yards” of residents and traffic jams, and an inability to quickly clean up the trash afterward created even more tension. Though some residents spoke positively of the Picnic, others complained of “moral pollution.” One man, quoted in the Statesman, put it bluntly: “They used the river naked; they polluted everywhere they went and I’m bitter against it.” Willie, for his trouble, was charged with violating the Texas Mass Gatherings Act and later fined $1,000.
LINEUP: Included Johnny Bush, Rita Coolidge and the Pointer Sisters.
QUOTE: “If we had arrested all the naked and drunk people I saw, we’d have filled our jail and yours and all of the jails from here to Dallas,” a Williamson County deputy sheriff told the Statesman shortly after the picnic.


 1976
PICNIC? Yes, July 3-5 in Gonzales.
WHAT HAPPENED: Willie, not letting the lingering disputes from the Liberty Hill fiasco get to him, planned another three-day Picnic. This one, July 2-4, would be held on the Sterling Kelley ranch about 7 miles east of Gonzales. That wasn’t far enough away for many of Gonzales’ residents. A group that non-ironically named itself CLOD – Citizens for Law, Order and Decency – quickly formed and by late May the county had denied a three-day permit and Willie had called off the Picnic. But a month before July 4, Willie changed his mind. By mid-June the county optimistically agreed to a one-day show and by late June, Willie said he was going to have a three-day show anyway, now starting on the afternoon of July 3.


Reports wavered between expected crowds of 100,000 and 200,000 but attendance only reached “more than 80,000” (still the largest Picnic). Early arrivals found the site to be perilously short on water outlets and bathroom facilities and the concert ended when a downpour on the morning of July 5 shorted out the PA system – before Waylon or Willie had performed their shows. In between, one person drowned and injuries ranged from stabbings to snake bites. More than 140 were arrested – four for kidnapping – and at least three rapes were reported. Willie would later be sued by two injured picnickers, the owner of the ambulance service and the owner of the ranch.


The Gonzales County authorities were concerned enough about drugs to pick their battles: “If an officer sees someone smoking a marijuana cigarette, he won’t arrest him,” deputy sheriff Don Kincaid told the Statesman before the picnic. “But if someone is making a sale or has heroin, he or she will be taken in.”
LINEUP: Included George Jones and B.W. Stevenson.
QUOTE: “To allow this invasion is to invite the anti-American, anti-Christian, hippie sub-culture right into our homes,” the Rev. Jimmy Darnell wrote in a handbill distributed to Gonzales residents, as quoted in the Statesman.


 1977
PICNIC? Sorta. Willie played a July 3 Picnic in Tulsa, Okla.
WHAT HAPPENED: After the Gonzales debacle, Willie took the Picnic idea on the road, playing at the Tulsa Fairgrounds Speedway, drawing a crowd quoted by the Oklahoman as “far above the 40,000-50,000 expected to attend.”
We can’t confirm where Willie was on the Fourth, but one former Austin club owner, Roger Collins, recalls that Willie played the newly opened Austin Opry House, but that it was not billed as any sort of picnic.
LINEUP: The July 3 gig included Lynyrd Skynrd and Jerry Jeff Walker.
QUOTE: “Man, I’ve had it. The sun is a lot hotter than the music,” said one Texan quoted by the Oklahoman newspaper.


 1978
PICNIC? Sorta. Willie played concerts at the Austin Opry House on July 4 and 5, billing both shows as Picnics. He also played a July 2 show at Texxas Jam in Dallas and a July 1 show in Kansas City, Mo.
WHAT HAPPENED: The traditional Picnic was still cooling its heels when Willie suggested having one at the Opry House to manager Tim O’Connor, and it proved to be a welcome respite from the heat and lawsuits. A few days earlier in Dallas, 25,000 didn’t quite pack the Cotton Bowl … and Willie admitted it just wasn’t the same: “It’s too controlled,” he told the Washington Post. “I liked it better when it was out in the pasture.”
The July 1 event in Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City was billed as a “Fourth of July Picnic,” but is notable because the short lineup included the Grateful Dead.
QUOTE: “We didn’t have an outdoor location, and it was at a time when we had to kind of stay out of Texas. … It was two nights and it was the coolest Picnic we ever had,” said Tim O’Connor of the indoor mini-Picnics in a 1987 interview with the Statesman.


 1979
PICNIC? Yes, July 4 at Willie’s newly purchased Pedernales Country Club.
WHAT HAPPENED: The traditional Picnic returned, and so did the old fears – at least one neighboring couple filed suit in late June to have the event canceled. But the fears proved to be unfounded. No more than 25,000 showed up (some estimates pegged the crowd at 15,000), emergency services included helicopter flights to Brackenridge and the facilities were at last adequate for the crowds: “We’ve bought $40,000 worth of port-o-can (toilets) for it,” road manager David Anderson told the Statesman. “Willie’s an entertainer, he’s not in the port-o-can business.” Things went so smoothly that, by the end of the evening, many of Willie’s new Briarcliff neighbors were new fans and Willie was talking about making the golf course a permanent site for the Picnic.
LINEUP: Included Ernest Tubb and Johnny Paycheck.
QUOTE: “There are police in the emergency room at Brack. If you’ve got anything you want to leave here … ” a nurse in the emergency tent told Picnic casualties about to be airlifted to the hospital, as quoted in the Statesman.


 1980
PICNIC? Yes, July 4 at Willie’s Pedernales Country Club.
WHAT HAPPENED: As early as May, Willie had been saying this Picnic would be his last one, but playing the same site for a second year seemed to agree with the Picnic, with a July 15 headline in the Statesman reading: “Willie’s last Picnic made money.” The Picnic even had its own judge, who set up court a few miles from the site to allow people charged with Class C misdemeanor offense to pay fines and avoid going to jail. The Picnic drew about 60,000 fans and made about that much in profit. The heat and the traffic posed problems, but the crowd was as well-behaved as possible. Some have claimed this Picnic brought in 100,000 people, but news reports at the time don’t support that.
LINEUP: Included Ray Price and Faron Young.
QUOTE: “Come over here and fight me, both of you. I want you two to kill me and put me out of my pain,” said one hungover man early in the morning after the Picnic, according to a Statesman article. Another man searched the trashed grounds for unopened beers: “This is the fourth beer I’ve found so far this morning. It’s like hunting Easter eggs.”


 1981
PICNIC? No.
WHAT HAPPENED: Willie spent July 4 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas as part of a two-week stand. One news report says he did throw a small, private shindig for some VIP fans. With no Willie Picnic, Mickey Gilley figured he would hold his own 3-day picnic at Gilley’s Club in Pasadena. But, despite the “Urban Cowboy” connection, it was a bust, attracting 1,000 people at most.
QUOTE: “Gilley postponed the opening act when only 10 people had arrived by 11 a.m. Friday,” an Associated Press story said on July 6.

1982
PICNIC? No.
WHAT HAPPENED: We have no idea where Willie was on July 4 or what he was doing.


1983
PICNIC? Sorta. Willie played July 4 at Atlanta International Raceway, July 3 at Giants Stadium in New Jersey and July 2 at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y.
WHAT HAPPENED: Two years without a Picnic apparently gave Willie the itch to ease back into it with a few all-day stadium shows. The Associated Press duly noted that the show in Syracuse would mark the first time beer would be sold in the Carrier Dome since a Kenny Rogers concert in 1982. About 25,000 showed up.
The show in East Rutherford, N.J. attracted nearly twice that, though dueling reports said temperatures reached 96, 103 and 115 degrees on the field
And in Hampton, just outside Atlanta, up to 30,000 saw a show that mixed David Allan Coe with the Stray Cats and Linda Ronstadt.
QUOTE: “I’ll tell you how much we love Waylon. We love Waylon so much we’d give him all the beer in our cooler,” a fellow named Mac told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.


 1984

PICNIC? Yes, July 4 at Southpark Meadows.
WHAT HAPPENED:The taming of the Picnic had begun, with only 27 arrests reported among the 18,000 in attendance (30,000 had been expected). News reports didn’t mention drugs, and nudity was apparently no longer the style. The Picnic now featured “legions” of security confiscating flasks, coolers, sandwiches and pocket knives. One Fort Worth picnicker was not impressed: “You can’t do this, you can’t do that – Jesus, what kind of a deal is this?” The Statesman story noted he was drinking a cup of beer that cost $1.75.
LINEUP: Included Johnny Rodriguez, Moe Bandy and Joe Ely.
QUOTE: “I just kept wondering when they were going to go really crazy,” Mark Cook, a paramedic at the medical tents, told the Statesman.


 1985

PICNIC? Yes, July 4 at Southpark Meadows.
WHAT HAPPENED: Drive into South Austin today and pull into the Southpark Meadows shopping complex off Interstate 35. Park on the south side of Jason’s Deli, facing west, and look toward the parking lot in front of the Hobby Lobby. If you had been here in 1985, you would have gazing up at the Highwaymen: Willie, Waylon, Kristofferson and Johnny Cash. You also would have been very wet. Heavy rains made the concert venue a mud pit, closed the parking lot (cars had to park along I-35) and limited attendance to about 12,000 picnickers. It might have been the coolest Picnic – and not just because Cash made his first appearance: The high temperature in Austin hit 79 degrees.
LINEUP: Included Neil Young, Hank Snow and June Carter Cash.
QUOTE: “We’re not arresting people for being drunk. We’re arresting them for obnoxious behavior,” a sheriff’s spokesman told the Statesman. The number of arrests? Fewer than a dozen.


 1986
PICNIC? Yes. Sorta. July 4 at Manor Downs was Farm Aid II.
WHAT HAPPENED: After the success of the first Farm Aid, Willie made plans the next year to hold it at Memorial Stadium on the University of Texas campus, but organizers could not secure liability insurance for the stadium. (There was also a significant concern on the part of some would-be picnickers about the prohibition of beer consumption at the stadium.) The concert was moved in late June to Southpark Meadows and – after more insurance wrangling – a week later to the Manor Downs racetrack. Despite all that, Farm Aid II drew a crowd of 40,000, though only $1.3 million dollars were raised for family farmers.
More than 80 performers played over the course of 18 hours (starting at 7 a.m.), ranging from a song each for some of the local artists to a scheduled 21 minutes for Willie at the end of the show. Celebrities on hand included Don Johnson (at the height of his “Miami Vice” fame) and the Rev. Jesse Jackson.
LINEUP: Included the Beach Boys, Jon Bon Jovi, Bonnie Raitt and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
QUOTE: “It sure as hell wasn’t Woodstock, with people smoking dope and women running around naked. We had grandmas and kids and moms and dads out here,” Constable Mike Simpson told the Statesman.


 1987
PICNIC? Yes, July 4 at Carl’s Corner, just north of Hillsboro.
WHAT HAPPENED: Willie intended to give the Picnic an old-school feel by taking it to a pasture outside Carl Cornelius’ truckstop and inviting people to bring in food, small coolers, sodas and umbrellas. The figuring was that up to 80,000 could come up from Austin and down from Fort Worth and Dallas, but it didn’t happen that way. A crowd of about 8,000 braved the heat and had a fine time, but the Picnic lost a lot of money.
LINEUP: Included Bruce Hornsby and the Range, Jackie King and Roger Miller.
QUOTE: “The one big problem we’ve had today has been when some kid picked up a field mouse and it bit her,” Dr. Red Duke, medical coordinator, told the Statesman.


 1988
PICNIC? No.
WHAT HAPPENED: We have no idea where Willie was on July 4. During at least a portion of July, he was filming the movie “Where the Hell’s That Gold?” Which, considering that it was a made-for-TV western starring Delta Burke, seems hardly worth passing up a Picnic.

 1989

 PICNIC? No.
WHAT HAPPENED: We have no idea where Willie was on July 4. However, on July 1, he did play the Paha Sapa Music Festival in Rapid City, S.D. Billed as a “clean and sober Woodstock,” the festival featured an impressive lineup including Jackson Browne, Neil Young, John Denver and Austin’s Timbuk 3, but drew a crowd of fewer than 5,000.