Post Offices have been receiving colorful mail from Grateful Dead fans eager to attend the band’s reunion concert this summer.
The Dead disbanded in 1995 after lead guitarist Jerry Garcia’s death. The band will reunite for a 50th anniversary concert at Chicago’s Soldier Field in July.
The band asked fans to follow precise instructions when ordering tickets by mail, including writing the number of requested tickets on a 3-by-5 index card and mailing it in a No. 10 envelope. The preferred payment method: USPS money orders. (Mail-order tickets are no longer available, though online sales begin in February.)
Fans who decorated their envelopes were entered in a contest for free tickets. The top three designs will become ticket artwork.
Raoul Lasso, an Illinois fan, praised the band’s “old school” approach. “They’re trying to bring back tradition,” he told the Chicago Tribune.
The Postal Service appreciates the fans’ business, Palatine, IL, Customer Relations Coordinator Sean Hargadon told the Northwest Herald last week, when fans lined up outside the Crystal Lake Post Office to mail their requests.
“It’s like another holiday for us,” Hargadon said.
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