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In this year of 50th anniversaries — astronauts walking on the moon, “Sesame Street” premiering on television and the Mets winning their first World Series, to name only three — Steve Gold has what he says is the biggest souvenir from one of the biggest happenings of all: the stage from Woodstock.

“It was the focal point,” said Mr. Gold, who was 15 when more than 350,000 people descended on a field in Bethel, N.Y., about 15 miles from where he grew up.

It was, after all, where the Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Sly and the Family Stone, Janis Joplin and Richie Havens performed.

Mr. Gold was in the crowd. As a local, he was not stuck in traffic on the New York State Thruway, as so many were. “I went back and forth every day because I knew the back roads,” he said. “Not that many people knew the back roads, but I was able to go in and out as I pleased.”