Gathering Of The Vibes Will Go on Hiatus in 2016

Article by: Laura Mason|@masonlazarus

Tue December 15, 2015 | 00:00 AM


Ken Hays , founder of Bridgeport, Connecticut's Gathering of the Vibes , made a somber announcement today: that his beloved festival will not return in 2016. Encouraging his VibeTribe to remain hopeful for new adventures in 2017, Hays wrote a heartfelt letter explaining that the team just needs a time out:

Gathering Of The Vibes 2016 Ken  Hays

In other words, fear not, because Gathering of the Vibes will be stronger and even better when it returns in 2017. If we have to wait a little longer to experience the unique kind of love and connection one can only feel amongst the VibeTribe – and if it means the festival will keep to its gloriously independent roots – then so be it!

When Jerry Garcia died in 1995, it threatened to tear a hole in the tight-knit community devoted to following him and the rest of the Grateful Dead around the country. In 1996, two business-savvy Deadheads, Ken Hays and Bob Kennedy, responded to that threat by throwing a memorial party for Garcia at SUNY Purchase, calling it “Deadhead Heaven: A Gathering of the Tribe.” That event was so successful—3,500 people came—that Hays and Kennedy decided to make it an annual thing. In 1997, they moved the festival to New York’s Croton Point Park, renaming it “Gathering of the Vibes.” Twenty years later, this Gathering is still as strong and rife with positive vibes as ever. 

For tips on how to keep your festival family alive and well in the off season, click here.