Grateful for the Dead: Local fans evoke Jerry Garcia 29 years later

Columbia’s annual Grateful Dead tribute festival, JerryFest, is celebrating its 10th year in Five Points this year. 

But the festival’s founders don’t know when it really started. 

“It’s actually been going on for closer to 25 years,” said Don McCallister, co-owner of Loose Lucy’s in Five Points. “It’s sort of a deadhead-y thing. We don’t know. We were just there.”  

The festival – 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday – was created to honor Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia after his death in 1995. It since has become a celebration of the free-spirited, jam-band scene Garcia founded.  

“We’re doing it because we love Jerry, and his contribution to American music and art is very, very important,” McCallister said. “The guy’s music makes people happy still.”

This year’s festival will be headlined by New Potato Caboose, a jam band that played Grateful Dead covers in the 1980s. The band is preparing to play several shows, doing Dead covers and showcasing original music. Vocalists Don Laux and Doug Pritchett still credit the Grateful Dead with their beginnings.  

“I think all of us sort of have that musical foundation in common – and that’s just where we came from,” Laux said.  

Grateful Dead fans attend JerryFest to thank Garcia not only for his contributions to music, but also for his effect on their personal lives. McCallister and his wife, Jenn, bought Loose Lucy’s in 1997. He said working at the Five Points “mom and pop hippie shop” gave him the freedom to pursue a career as a writer.  

“Dreams we didn’t know we had have come true thanks to being a fan of the Grateful Dead,” McCallister said. “If there’s a reason I’m going to all this trouble with JerryFest, I owe them. I owe him, I feel like, a debt of gratitude for giving me my life.” 

Grateful Dead fans also celebrate a strong sense of community. Pritchett and Laux said New Potato Caboose has become a family since its founding 40 years ago. The part of the festival they are most looking forward to is reuniting with their bandmates. 

“The reunion of the band and getting back together and the camaraderie that we have as just brothers, I look forward to that,” Pritchett said. “Of course, playing with these brothers is wonderful. But it’s also great to just be together again.”  

This year’s festival includes several new elements. A recently installed robot head sculpture by local artist Clark Ellefson will have its name revealed at the event. The festival will also feature two stages for the second year in a row, with the main stage being moved to Greene Street.  

McCallister said that since the festival moved to Five Points in 2014, attendance has ballooned. He expects a substantial crowd to attend Sunday.  

“Last year … that was twice as big as any JerryFest had ever been. So now we’ve adjusted the footprint again.”

The last time the Grateful Dead played in Columbia was on Halloween night in 1985. But in the 40 years since, the jam-band style and the festival have proven to be timeless.  

“These outdoor festivals tend to get, you know, some younger folks in there who are interested in the jam-band scene,” Laux said. “It’s like bringing that music and that vibe to a whole new generation of folks who really appreciate it.”