Shakedown Street, named after a Grateful Dead song, attracts around 60,000 concertgoers for a three-night celebration in Golden Gate Park. With 100 vendor booths, the marketplace sells Grateful Dead merchandise and art. Vendors view each other as family, bonded by their shared love for the band. Dougie Bledsoe, a longtime vendor, shares his personal story of finding refuge in the community after facing hardships. He began selling T-shirts at concerts in the late 1980s and has made it his livelihood ever since.
The heartbeat of Shakedown Street can be felt miles before you get there. Nearly 60,000 concertgoers, dressed in head-to-toe tie-dye, flooded JFK Boulevard for the three-night Grateful Dead 60th anniversary celebration in Golden Gate Park.
Another 100 vendor booths participated in a decades-long tradition, called 'Shakedown Street,' named after the band's 1978 song. The informal marketplace outside of Dead shows has become a cultural phenomenon.
Dougie Bledsoe, who's worked Shakedown Street for 40 years selling tie-dye T-shirts, describes the community as a family. He found refuge there after being kicked out of Indiana.
Back when he was a teenager, Bledsoe found himself at a Dead concert in Berkeley in the 1980s, leading him to start selling T-shirts in 1989.
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