"[Ben & Jerry's] Cherry Garcia ice cream was first released in 1987; however, it was first suggested over 3 years before by 2 self-proclaimed fans of Ben & Jerry's & the Grateful Dead, who thought we ought to make a flavour named Cherry Garcia, in honour of Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia.
Their suggestion was written on a postcard with a Portland, Maine, postmark, but no name or return address... After making considerable efforts to search for & identify the DeadHead who wrote the postcard, we finally found Jane Williamson. To thank her & to officially recognise her as the original creator of the flavour name, we invited Jane to our 1987 Annual Stockholders' Meeting, where Ben & Jerry presented her (& a friend) with a giant Cherry Garcia pint lid, as well as a year's supply of ice cream." - UK B&J site I think...Our southern VT town of Manchester had one of the first "scoop shops", and wearing tie dye was not unknown... The Dead were/are big in VT. Fun fact, you could buy "reject" pints from a special freezer for $2 I think?? These were ones that didn't pass QC in Waterbury. Too MUCH chocolate perhaps... or chunks of Heath Bar too BIG. Or maybe the wrong top was applied - said Cherry Garcia and was actually vanilla - nuts... Usually you scored though, bigtime. As the tourists lined up for their $3.50 cone (this was over 20 years ago...) you bought a crazy pint, split it (and the wimpy spoons trying to dig it out) and moved on.
Ben & Jerry's are now a client of the digital archive company for whom I work. Full circle. Could not be happier about it.