Resembling an aging psychedelic sea of tie-dyed cotton and gray hair, the Sept. 2, 2007 “Summer of Love” crowd consisted largely of baby boomers. Young and old, the day long festival was a packed and sweltering maze of people letting the good times roll.

"It would be cooler if there were more people from our generation," Jake Greinetz, a student in his 20s, said. He observed the swarm of elders around him before disappearing into the human ocean.

Festival-goers of all ages drummed, danced, smoked, and sold counter-culture goodies. Black Panther commemoration newspapers were two dollars, while bulbous blown glass pipes carried around in a sateen-lined suitcase went for a range of prices. An estimated 40,000 hippies and non-hippies alike packed tightly together writhing and cheering, scattered across the large grassy field and condensed around a crowded stage where musicians such as Grace Slick performed 1960's classics like "Somebody to Love."

All of the ingredients were lined up and ready to make the magic pot of historical stew that served a revolutionary bunch of so-called hippies who made their mark 40-years ago. But commercialism, an enemy to the state of flower children was not entirely avoided this year.

The essential message promoted, along with slogans from advertisers such as Corona and Southwest Airlines, by the post-millennial celebration was simply, love. Strewn across the massive stage in large curvy letters and printed on tee-shirts, the emotion was sung about and actualized by concert goers who offered free hugs. Love in the time of war was celebrated by the thousands.

"It kind of feels like the summer of money," SF State Student Kevin Christopher Zupanic said. Zupanic sat with a group of friends on the patchy grass situated near a growing drum circle and talked about the high price of food at the festival—smoothies for seven dollars and salads for six.

They waited in loose assemblies of lines sprawling from one end of Golden Gate Park's Speedway Meadows to the other. They formed outside of Porto-Potties, roasting in the uninterrupted sunlight, and stretched from food stands that served favotires like corn dogs and vegan hemp ice cream

Behind the food booths that stood beneath large plastic tarps, people gathered on the small hills formed at the bottom of the park. Tending to dogs and babies, they sat in semi-circles and passed around things to smoke. A Jimmy Hendrix look-a-like walked up the hill and was stopped and asked to pose for a picture. He adjusted the strap of a guitar slung across his back and smiled. "For a tip," he said and the woman dug into her purse.

The show itself was free. Dozens of bands graced the stage and allowed the colorful masses to enjoy about eight hours of live music. Reprinted rock posters of the 60's, 70's, and beyond were selling out.

"Hippies love psychedelic posters," Cactus Pete Anderson said. Anderson wore a Grateful Dead tee-shirt and sold a lengthy table full of pin-ups of musical prints. A young woman asked about a Red Hot Chili Peppers poster made to look like it was designed several decades ago. Anderson gave her a price, 20 dollars, adding that "if it weren't for hippies, Anthony (Kiedis) never would have grown his hair long like that." According to Anderson as well as the Summer of Love's 2007 official proclamation, many movements such as feminism and environmentalism came out of the 60's and helped to create contemporary American life. "What was going on in the 60's is still going on today."