In August 1972, the hit a financial rough patch. Owners Chuck and Sue Kesey had been in business for more than a decade and just introduced a new probiotic product called Nancy鈥檚 Yogurt. But debts and back taxes threatened to shut them down.
That鈥檚 when somebody got the groovy idea to ask a popular psychedelic rock band for help. And help they did.
Chuck Kesey had seen the band lots of times, alongside his brother, novelist and Merry Prankster Ken Kesey. 鈥淲e went to really early Grateful Dead Acid Tests. In the early time, there were 350 people in the crowd. They would dance all night, a pretty spectacular thing, yeah?鈥�
Chuck and Sue had gotten to know lead guitarist and vocalist Jerry Garcia and several members of the crew. They said asking the band for help was kind of like reaching out to family.
鈥淲e went down to San Francisco to talk to the Grateful Dead,鈥� Chuck recalled. 鈥淎nd they said 鈥榶es.鈥� And from there we had 28 days to put a concert on, out in a field.鈥�
The Kesey鈥檚 rented a big open field on the Oregon Country Fair site in Veneta. Then? 鈥漊h, start building a stage immediately,鈥� Chuck said. 鈥淭hat whole crew was all volunteer people, these were Hoedads and people that just showed up and they built that stage.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 almost working. I think it鈥檚 now working鈥ay! We鈥檙e back on the air again,鈥� said Merry Prankster and 60鈥檚 psychedelic leader, Ken Babbs, who emceed the benefit show which he dubbed the 鈥淔ield Trip.鈥�
Dead bassist Phil Lesh saunters up to the mic, 鈥淲e鈥檇 sure like to thank the Springfield Creamery for making it possible for us to play out here in front of all you folks here. This is really where we get off the best,鈥� he told the growing crowd.
鈥淥k,鈥� Babbs said, 鈥淪o here ya go, the Grateful Dead!鈥� The crowd cheers wildly as the band breaks into Promised Land.
No one knows for sure how many people made their way to that field for the show but a common estimate is 20,000. Sue Kesey says most of the attendees bought their tickets which were printed on unused yogurt labels. 鈥淭ickets were $3.00 and $3.50 at the gate,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know why we would have ever wanted to make change at the gate? But anyway.鈥�
So, what were Sue and Chuck doin鈥� during the concert?
鈥淚 think I was behind the stage in a kind of a little trailer was kind of the office,鈥� Sue answers, 鈥渁nd trying to keep track of money or tickets or what we had."
鈥淭he money that was coming in was in buckets,鈥� Chuck added with a laugh. 鈥淎nd you鈥檇 see girls going across the crowd with two big, five- gallon buckets- full of money- with no paranoia on any side, yea.鈥�
This might be a good time to mention the blistering heat. That late August day, it was nearly 100 degrees. 鈥淚鈥檇 mathematically figured out how much water I thought that many people would drink,鈥� Chuck explained. 鈥淪o, I got a creamery tank truck full of water.鈥� His calculations for an adequate supply of drinking water were soon rendered moot when halfway through the concert, folks started showering in it.
鈥淎nd I thought, 鈥榦h man, we鈥檙e in trouble now,'" Chuck remembered. "And about that time-- the top popped open on the tank truck and out came a naked hippie that had been swimming inside of it. And I realized, 鈥榳e鈥檝e lost our water.鈥欌��
But, Chuck said the massive crowd didn鈥檛 seem to mind. Many attendees stripped down to nothing and blissed out to the music. The band told the Keseys there were 鈥渕ore naked people there than at any concert they鈥檇 ever given.鈥�
The Dead played a 31-minute version of Dark Star that afternoon. Sometimes playful, sometimes brooding, the extended jam was but a rumor to those who weren鈥檛 there. That is until the 2013 documentary film directed, by John Norris and produced by Sam Field, allowed a bird鈥檚 eye view of the entire 1972 Veneta show.
After the sun dipped below the distant tree line and a third encore, the show ended. Those buckets full of money from concert proceeds made all the difference for the future of Springfield Creamery. 鈥淲hen you think back on it, it was kind of a humbling experience that they would do this for us,鈥� Sue said. 鈥淏asically, they left all the money, except probably their gas money, with us. And it was just about enough money to get us over the hump we were needing to get over.鈥�
The amount was reportedly $12,000. And to this day, Sue and Chuck Kesey remain, quite simply, grateful. With a big smile, Chuck clearly expressed his opinion of the Dead. 鈥淭his is the greatest band ever invented by humanity,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t is.鈥�
Chuck and Sue鈥檚 two kids have grown up knowing something pretty amazing went down. Son Kit Kesey, who was 6 at the time of the Field Trip show, has become a concert promoter in Eugene. Daughter Sheryl Kesey Thompson is co-owner and oversees product marketing for Springfield Creamery. She was 11 at the time of the show and remembers sitting under the primitive stage while the Grateful Dead played.
鈥淚 think that my generation looks back at that day and that time and looks at it as a pretty significant fork in the road for the Creamery where that hand up made a difference for the next 50 plus years,鈥� Kesey Thompson said. And then she told a tale on her Deadhead parents. 鈥淓very time you call their house the Grateful Dead is playing in the background.鈥�
On August 27th the Kesey鈥檚鈥� now both in their 80s鈥� will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead鈥檚 benefit show by wearing tee shirts which read, 鈥淭he day a rock band saved a yogurt company.鈥� (And they'll listen to Dead Air on KLCC as they do every Saturday night, they said.)
Production assistance on this story from Sheryl Kesey Thompson. Audio from recordings used here with permission from Rhino Records.
Who played with the Grateful Dead at the August 27, 1972 Field Trip benefit show in Veneta for Springfield Creamery? See below:
Active: 1965鈥�1995
Instruments: Lead and Rhythm guitar, lead and backing vocals
Other projects: , , , , ,
Active: 1965鈥�1995
Instruments: Lead and Rhythm guitar, lead and backing vocals
Other projects: , , , , , ,
Active: 1965鈥�1995
Instruments: Bass guitar, backing and lead vocals
Other projects: , , ,
Active: 1965鈥�1995
Instruments: Drums, percussion
Other projects: , , , , , , ,
Active: September 1971 鈥� February 17, 1979
Instruments: Keyboards, backing vocals
Other projects: ,
Active: December 31, 1971 鈥� February 17, 1979 (maternity leave November鈥揇ecember 1973)
Instruments: Backing and lead vocals
Other projects: , , ,
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