[Dear Readers, we no longer offer retail buttons, but we do offer an awesome website to order your own custom sticker.]
StickerGiant has more Dancing Bear buttons and stickers than you can shake a stick at Sugaree. Just don't tell them that you know me.
Check out these American Beauties:
- Dan Morris Dancing Bear
- Dancing Butterfly
- Rainbow Dancing Bears
- Jumbo Night Day Bear
- Five Dancing Bears
- Bears on a Bus
- Rasta Bear
- Mini Dancing Bears
I went looking for the history behind the Dancing Bears and immediately stumbled into Wikipedia ...
A series of stylized marching bears was drawn by Bob Thomas as part of the back cover for the album History of the Grateful Dead, Volume One (Bear's Choice). The bear is a reference to Owsley "Bear" Stanley, who recorded and produced the album. Bear himself wrote, "the bears on the album cover are not really 'dancing'. I don't know why people think they are; their positions are quite obviously those of a high-stepping march.
Bear was the Dead's soundman in their early years and is credited with co-designing the Lightning Bolt Skull logo with Thomas along with other avocations which led to his incarceration. He was the grandson of A. Owsley Stanley, a US Senator, Congressman and Governor of Kentucky. Bear passed away in 2001, due to injuries sustained in an automobile accident in Australia.