Gathering of the Vibes
Thursday July 15, 2010 at 8:00PM
Each summer at the end of July, east coast festival goers return to Bridgeport Connecticut’s Seaside Park for Gathering of the Vibes. The festival itself was born out of Jerry Garcia’s death in 1996 as a forum for the Grateful Dead community to come together for a weekend of spiritual renewal and to celebrate the life of their beloved front man. Although the Vibes has taken place in other venues across the east coast (such as the Indian Lookout Country Club in New York where Camp Bisco now makes its home), Seaside Park has housed the festival for the last five years, and its father; Ken Hays, has no plans of relocating his brainchild. The festival itself brings a great deal of money to the seemingly devastated local economy of downtown Bridgeport, and for one weekend each year, Seaside Park shines in glory with hippies and flowers. For us New Yorkers, GOTV is a no brainer. The crème de la crème of the jam band acts such as Furthur, DSO, Primus, NRPS, Sharon Jones, Robert Randolph, The McLovins, Umphrey’s McGee, Little Feat, Assembly of Dust, Damian Marley, Bridgeport’s own Deep Banana Blackout, and many more will fill 2 side by side main stages and a separate late-night tent with good vibes and good tunes from Thursday to Sunday. Loads of food and craft vendors line the road along the beach including amazing glass blowers or gong therapists that will clear your head of the cobwebs from the night before. One of the best parts about Vibes is that you get to wake up already AT the beach. Only 90 minutes (give or take) from Nassau County, the “road trip” to vibes goes by in a flash, and it’s fun in the sun (hopefully lots of sun) for the whole weekend without a long, smelly, and treacherous journey home. Day passes are available for Friday-Sunday, as are weekend-long camping passes through their website for just over $200. VIP Passes are also available for the financially inclined and/or less camping savvy festival-goer for around $420. This year’s vibes promises to outshine last years, and there are always a few surprises in store, so grab a ticket, a tent, and a couple of friends and head out to Gathering of the Vibes July 29th-August 1st.