DAVISON, MI -- Months before Woodstock, Michigan’s Genesee County had “Wild Wednesday.”

The event was held at Sherwood Forest, a 73-acre park and concert venue near Davison.

In the summer of 1969, AM radio station WTAC assumed sponsorship of the outdoor event called “Wild Wednesday,” with DJ Pete Cavanaugh acting as promoter.

Cavanaugh described the forest as "a single point in time and space,” a message broadcast across WTAC-AM 600 radio waves throughout the 1960s and early 1970s to promote the concert series that featured dozens of rock greats including Chuck Berry, REO Speedwagon, Alice Cooper, MC5, Ted Nugent and Stevie Wonder.

Bob Seger remembers Sherwood Forest

“...I was lucky and everyone who went to those concerts were lucky being alive and attentive and at those gigs because it was a whole new thing for everybody in the face of a culture that was shifting,” Cavanaugh said 50 years later.

Now, the forest is overgrown. Sherwood sold the property in 1980 and it has remained virtually unoccupied since then. Now, the property is listed for sale by its current owner with a with the asking price of $699,900.

“Some may remember this as the Woodstock of Davison back in the 60′s,” the listing states. The property offers a spring-fed lake, Christmas trees and a large clearing with “building opportunities for developers.”

When asked if it could ever be what it was, Cavanaugh said, “No.”

As the music industry changed, he said local promoters had to fade out of the picture or become big-time themselves.

“It just became big business and local people were left out of it,” he said.

Sherwood Forest remembered

Some people remember where they had a first kiss at Sherwood Forest. Others fondly look back on UAW picnics and horseback riding in what once was a recreation area. One woman remembers how she unknowingly spoke with Chuck Berry while attending a “Wild Wednesday” concert when she was 13.

After sitting unused for 30 years, the forest is now overgrown and unoccupied but remains remembered in Davison and beyond.

15 Davison property with rich history - Sherwood Forest up for sale

Situated on Richfield Road, just east of M-15 in Davison Township, the forest become what it’s best known for under the ownership of the late Don Sherwood, who died in 2000.

Don Sherwood’s son, Dean Sherwood, said the forest, park and recreation was far more than a concert venue.

“One of my dad’s regrets, and he told me this just a few days before he died, was that it was only being remembered for the concerts and that was a very small part of what the park was,” he said.

According to The Flint Journal archives from 1965, Sherwood admitted he “drifted” into the field of recreation for city folk.

The property influenced his switch to recreation. Originally hoping it could be a farm, he eventually converted marshy land into a pond. He saw this as a potential swimming area.

“The kids need somewhere to go,” was the main motivation for his father to start the park, Dean Sherwood said.

He made a playground instead, adding play equipment and two baseball diamonds and 10-acres of wooded picnic area with bench tables and grills. A lodge was eventually built near the pond.

He kept about 20 horses for horseback riding and three to four draft horse teams for sleigh and hayrides to draw his “stagecoach.”

This was his way of keeping it the farm he had originally envisioned.

“Basically, it was a family farm for people who had left their family farms,” Dean Sherwood said.

Sherwood had two sons and two daughters. He spoke to The Flint Journal about them in April of 1965.

“They have all the swimming, horseback riding, skating and that kind of fun for which children are always looking -- so their idea of a big time is to go to town and visit the dime store,” Don Sherwood said in the Journal article.

That year, the Journal reported the property hosted small 10-person groups and up to 10,000 people attending a United Auto Workers picnic on Labor Day.

“Probably more people remember that than actually remember the concerts because it was such a huge family event,” Dean Sherwood said.

Davison and Kearsley-area Girl Scout Day camps used the site for day camps. Many dances were also held there.

While the property is overgrown, Dean Sherwood said he remembers every inch from his childhood. He can point out where he had his first kiss.

He said he did not know the area was now for sale.

“I have no idea what the property would be used for now,” he said.

The concerts

The First “Wild Wednesday” held June 25,1969 brought 4,000 rock fans to Sherwood Forest. Those who attended paid $2 for a concert on the Sherwood Patio with Bob Seger, The Rationals, Detroit-based rock band SRC and The Bhang.

The event also featured rides, games and prizes.

Cavanaugh, now 78, said he had a knack for picking up-and-coming rock groups and booking them before they became big.

“Some people can play ball, some people can play football, some people have a great way with women," he said. "My talent was being able to hear music and sort of figure out for the masses what was going to work and what wasn’t.”

Susie Goodrich-Weeks said she went to most of the “Wild Wednesday” and “Super Sunday” shows when she was young. The short-lived “Super Sunday” series started in 1971.

Her most memorable moment was at age 13: It was an outdoor show but you could come into the building to use the bathroom or cool off. Behind the stage inside there were stairs to go up to a room that had a large picture window overlooking the stage outside.

“I was up there watching the show when an man came up and started talking to me about the band I was watching," Goodrich-Weeks said. "We talked for about 5-10 minutes, (me, not knowing who it was) when another guy came up and said ‘Chuck Berry. How are you?’ Then I felt a bit stupid because I was talking to the legendary Chuck Berry.”

In 2006, Bob Seger shared with The Flint Journal his memory of playing at Sherwood Forest, a site where he and other soon-to-be-famous Michigan rockers once played.

“One I really remember from Sherwood Forest was Alto on top of the PA,” Bob Seger recalled, referring to the band’s saxophonist and resident showman, Alto Reed.

“The second he got up there was thunder and lightning, and it’s the beginning song, and it was definitely the last encore," he said. "I remember the crew is already inside, they’ve already bailed, and he’s up there wailing away. The indomitable Alto Reed.”

Timeline:

1958: Owner Sherwood builds the original 75-foot-by-80-foot hall at Sherwood Forest in Richfield Township, which hosted dances, weddings, political rallies and other events.

1959: The outdoor stage is constructed.

1964: Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and Stevie Wonder perform there; Don Brewer of the Jazz Masters and Mark Farner of the Derelicts compete in a battle of the bands (the Jazz Masters win) before joining the Pack and, eventually, Grand Funk Railroad.

1969: WTAC assumes sponsorship of "Wild Wednesday.” A 100-foot-by-70-foot addition was built to the hall.

June 23, 1971: A crowd of 10,000 turns out at Sherwood for performances by Amboy Dukes, Brownsville Station, Bob Seger and others.

Sept. 26, 1971: Cavanaugh starts the short-lived “Super Sunday” series.

Sept. 24, 1972: The second and last “Super Sunday” show featured Ted Nugent, Frijid Pink and others.

Aug. 1, 1973: Genesee County Sheriff John P. O’Brien mounts a raid on a 'Wild Wednesday" concert.

June 26, 1974: Tired of pressures from local police, government and neighbors, owner Sherwood announces the last “Wild Wednesday,” which featured performances by Montrose (with Sammy Hagar), Bob Seger, Spooky Tooth and others.

1980: Don Sherwood sells the property, which includes Sherwood Forest.

1989: Sherwood Lodge is destroyed by fire, and the site is virtually abandoned.

Bands that played there: