RS Recommends: Grateful Dead Team Up With Parks Project for New Blanket Collab
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“Welcome to Bear Country!” The famous Grateful Dead dancing bears are throwing on their hiking packs, roasting marshmallows and enjoying the great outdoors for a new, limited-edition gear collection from the Dead and the Parks Project.
Buy Grateful Dead x Parks Project Blanket $120
The Welcome to Bear Country Collection is the first officially-licensed collaboration between the Dead and Parks Project, which was launched back in 2014 and helps support America’s parks with each product sold. The new line’s now available to purchase online at Urban Outfitters and Nordstrom. And for many Dead Heads, the new collaboration will be a natural fit.
“One of the greatest adventures of my life was courtesy of the Grateful Dead, providing me with the incentive to drive across the U.S. several times in my teenage and early-20s years, following the band from town to town,” says David Lemieux, Grateful Dead archivist and legacy manager, in a statement. “And on many of these journeys, I was very fortunate to explore several U.S. National Parks, State Parks, and public wild lands, and I was completely awed by their beauty and importance.”
Buy Grateful Dead x Parks Project Camp Chair $110
The newly launched Welcome to Bear Country line covers both apparel and lifestyle gear designed for the campground, from cozy camping blankets to foldable camp chairs and an enamel dish set. Per a press release, proceeds from the collaboration go towards the Park Project’s conservation partner for this collection, the Sierra Club, and its “mission of protecting America’s wild lands and wildlife.”
“The fourth Grateful Dead song I ever heard, way back in 1984, was ‘Sugar Magnolia,’ and it had a profound impact on me as to how I viewed the Grateful Dead: They saw and respected the natural the same as I did,” Lemieux tells Rolling Stone. “Hearing Bob Weir sing, ‘We can discover the wonders of nature’ mirrored my curiosity about the world outside.”
“Partnering with the Parks Project is continuation of this ethos, and this wonderful line of merchandise is another way to help ensure we’ll all be able to discover the wonders of nature for generations to come,” Lemieux adds.
Buy Grateful Dead Parks Project Dish Set $98
Along with the camping dishes, blanket and a lightweight chair, shoppers will also find a variety of accessories that come with the Grateful Dead and Parks Project logo, including caps (currently sold out online) and tie-dye beanies, above.
Buy Grateful Dead x Parks Project Hat $40
“The Grateful Dead has long been synonymous with community, friendship, and peace,” the Parks Project’s cofounder and CEO Keith Eshelman says in a release. “Partnering with them to create these new campgoods and accessories has been a dream. We can’t wait to see fellow adventurers trucking along with dancing bear beanies and hats on the trail, especially knowing we all gave back to our wild lands together.”
The Welcome to Bear Country collection is now available to shop at both Urban Outfitters and Nordstrom. And if the limited line sells out, don’t worry: Parks Project says that more items in the collection will continue to roll out throughout the month.