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Couple Featured On Woodstock Album Cover Still Celebrating 46 Years Later

LAKE MOHEGAN, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- An area husband and wife have been celebrating their love since the original Woodstock festival in 1969 – and one could almost say their love was built on Woodstock.

On Saturday, Bobbi and Nick Ercoline attended a gathering celebrating the 46th anniversary of the Woodstock at the Winery at St. George in Mohegan Lake, honoring the photo that made them icons of the era.

The anniversary of Woodstock means new generations are gazing upon the image of hip innocence in which the Ercolines are shown embracing under a grubby blanket.

The photo, taken at the festival on Aug. 17, 1969, was used for the cover of the Woodstock soundtrack album and the poster for the documentary film about the festival.

And the love captured in the photo has never died.

"It's been fun," said Nick Ercoline. "It's a fun thing."

Back then, Nick and Bobbi were 20-year-olds with no plans to attend Woodstock. But that all changed when they were told not to go.

"Someone said on the radio, 'If you plan on coming, do not,'" Bobbi Ercoline said.

"We were 20 years old," added Nick Ercoline. "Of course we have to go."

So they joined the crowds of young people on Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel, Sullivan County. The sun was coming up at the time the photo was taken, and Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane was signing.

The couple hugged, and they were not posing for a camera.

"There were people taking photos all over the place, so we had no idea that they were taking our picture," Nick Ercoline said.

The following winter, the record, "Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More" came out. The Ercolines were shown in the foreground amidst a crowd of people reclining on a downward slope and a colorful butterfly-shaped kite off to the side.

The names of the iconic musical acts, from Jimi Hnedrix and Joan Baez to Country Joe and the Fish and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, were printed over the photo.

The cover was a big surprise.

"And uh, so there we were," Bobbi Ercoline said.

Nick and Bobbi Ercoline got married two years after the photo was taken.

They settled in Pine Bush, New York. Nick Ercoline became a carpenter and building inspector, and Bobbi Ercoline an elementary school nurse. They have two sons.

When asked their advice for a long-lasting marriage, they said, "choose your battles," "communicate" and "remember back when." The photo certainly helps.

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