LIBERTY — It's hard to imagine what Sullivan County would look like if not for Alan Gerry. His life reads like a novel about coming to America, and it's a novel still being written.

The son of Russian immigrants, he turned a small storefront in Liberty into a billion dollar cable television empire. During the last several decades, Alan and Sandra Gerry have focused on philanthropic endeavors, helping the community where they've found so much success.

From the emergency room at Catskill Regional Medical Center to SUNY Sullivan, college scholarship opportunities, Sullivan Renaissance and now Sullivan 180, there's hardly any major institution in Sullivan County where the Gerrys' influence is not felt.

“I cannot tell you how fortunate we feel we are to have been able to stay here,” Gerry told the Democrat during an exclusive interview at his home in Liberty last week. “I feel like we've helped to keep the lights on.”

Alan Gerry is a lot of things. A proud son of Liberty and a Sullivan County native, a high school dropout, U.S. Marine, electronics enthusiast, billionaire entrepreneur and respected philanthropist.

But perhaps his greatest enduring legacy, and what takes center stage during this anniversary weekend, is Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.

The same year Gerry sold Cablevision Industries to Time Warner for a reported $2.7 billion, he bought the original site of the Woodstock Festival and hundreds of acres surrounding it.

Bethel Woods Center for the Arts and the not-for-profit Gerry Foundation was never meant to make money but to help reinvigorate development in the area. “Look at all the good it does,” Gerry said. “It put us on the map.”

The long list of talent who has walked across the stage at Bethel Woods has kept alive the sense of music and artistry that defined the original Woodstock Music Festival. Bob Dylan, Tony Bennett, The New York Philharmonic, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Elton John and many more have helped keep culture alive and well in the Catskills.

Sullivan County is going all out this weekend to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the original Woodstock Music Festival. All the efforts to recognize the anniversary this year stand in stark contrast to the way it was once ignored and shunned. Landowners used to spread chicken manure on the iconic fields every August and town officials would block access with dump trucks to keep the visitors away.

These days we have the Woodstock Museum and monument where new generations can learn about a history now fully embraced.

“We were able to clean up the reputation,” Gerry explained. “We took what was once a big problem and built something that's very legitimate and recognized and we made it an attraction. It's not just for a few days in August either, we have people visiting all year long.”

Gerry said the whole experience has been very gratifying, and he sees the legacy of Woodstock living on for many years to come.

“We're looking forward to the next 50 years,” he said.