Deadheads Make Camp In Central Park

Hundreds of Grateful Dead followers, many in tie-dyed shirts and dresses, played cat-and-mouse with the police across Central Park Saturday in defiance of a ban on a gathering in memory of the band’s leader, Jerry Garcia.

The fans, denied a permit for the observance, converged on the Great Lawn near the Metropolitan Museum of Art but were confronted by parks enforcement officers who told them they would not be allowed to play the bongos, drums and guitars they carried unless they moved to another part of the park.

That led to an impromptu psychedelic parade past curious sunbathers, bicyclists and Rollerbladers that ended near the band shell, where the faithful pitched camp in the Summerstage open-air theater.