In 1969 and 1970, Memorial Park in Royal Oak, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, gains a reputation as a counterculture gathering place. The group, Youth for Peace, Freedom and Justice, hosts communal suppers in the park, as well as free film screenings. Authorities see the park only as a marketplace for illegal drugs.

Police close the park on August 24, 1970. Protesters stage a four hour sit-in while others riot on Woodward Avenue, a main thoroughfare, throwing trash and vandalizing buildings. Curfews are imposed but rioting continues for three nights.

Protesters organize several social service organizations to address illegal drug use. The next summer, demonstrators return to Memorial Park to play baseball, but police arrive and make arrests, determined to keep the park “freak free.”