Senator John McCain described it as “a cultural and pharmaceutical event.” He was not there, of course; as he pointed out in a Republican debate last October in Florida, he was “tied up at the time,” a sly reference to his time as prisoner of war in North Vietnam .

But if Mr. McCain would like to experience Woodstock, the 1969 festival in upstate New York that came to epitomize, in three days, all that was groovy and grungy about hippie culture, he can take a trip to Bethel, N.Y. 

The Museum at Bethel Woods will open its doors June 2, offering “immersive multimedia exhibit displays and experiences” about not only the festival itself but also the cold war, the civil rights movement and the era’s continuing impact. 

The museum has provided a key moment for Mr. McCain’s presidential campaign. In the debate in October, he ridiculed Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for pushing, along with her fellow Democratic senator from New York , Charles E. Schumer, for a $1 million earmark for the museum. He drew a standing ovation for his comments, which he worked into an advertisement that helped lift his flagging campaign.

Members of the two parties ultimately blocked the earmark, but the Museum at Bethel Woods has survived.

The museum, built on the Woodstock grounds, offers a nine-minute “festival experience,” with film and audio presented from the perspective of an audience member. “It’s really meant to make you feel like you’re in the crowd,” said Mike Egan, the museum’s senior director.

“What that political fighting doesn’t recognize is that this is a very major economic development project,” Mr. Egan added.

It is a point Mrs. Clinton made when she announced her support for the $1 million grant. At the time, some focused more on the fact that Alan Gerry, a cable magnate who bought the concert site, had donated the maximum to her presidential campaign and even more to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which Mr. Schumer heads, shortly after the earmark was inserted.