I’ve never been to Burning Man for various reasons, but I’ve always been fascinated by the chaos that surrounds it.
If you’ve ever flown in or out of Reno-Tahoe International Airport in the days leading up to or following the eight-day event in the Black Rock Desert, you know the people-watching can be fascinating.
Then there’s the “drama” that unfolds anytime the weather on the playa is less than perfect. Remember the breathless news headlines three years ago when rains caused mud, inconvenience and some delays leaving the playa—but publications like The New York Times treated the situation like something akin to a modern-day Donner Party?
This time of year, I enjoy occasionally checking the Burning Man Traffic X/Twitter account. As of this writing, the latest report is that travel time from “Gravel to Gate” is 8 hours, 20 minutes.
Uh … no thanks!
Anyway, the RN&R has been covering Burning Man since its early days on the playa—and we even covered it when it was not a thing, at least officially, during the pandemic.
On Aug. 22, 2021, Nevada Newspaper Hall of Famer, then-RN&R editor and current editor-at-large Frank X. Mullen previewed the unofficial event that was about to unfold in the Black Rock Desert, in the second of two years during which the official event was cancelled due to COVID-19.
The first part of the story:
There will be no flaming 40-foot statue, high-rise temples or other elaborate, fantastical structures on the Black Rock Desert during the week before Labor Day—but several thousand campers are expected to be there celebrating an unofficial version of Burning Man for the second year in a row.
And while the usual large-scale pyrotechnics are prohibited, there probably will be smoke—and plenty of it—as California wildfires continue to gobble up Sierra Nevada forests.
The 2019 gathering, marking the 28th year of the art festival in Nevada, drew more than 78,000 revelers. Organizers cancelled 2020 and 2021 events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, thousands of folks showed up anyway. This year, even more people are expected to be parking campers and pitching tents on the vast, dry lake bed about two hours north of Reno.
“I went last year and it was a blast,” said Cowie Frederickson of Reno, a retired carpenter who previously attended the festival in 2006, when attendance was about 39,000, and in 2012, when Burning Man hosted 55,000 participants.
Later in the piece, Frank explained:
The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office, meanwhile, has issued an advisory aimed at this year’s die-hard Burners. The bulletin warns that dense smoke is expected, blowing in from the massive Dixie and Caldor fires burning in Northern California. The advisory noted that there will be none of the services that are a part of the official event, including bathrooms, police patrols, medical services and expanded cell-phone coverage. The nearest trauma hospital, the advisory noted, is about three hours away.
In addition, the Bureau of Land Management has issued temporary restrictions for users of the Black Rock Desert through the end of October. The rules prohibit: fires, except cook fires within containers at least 6 inches off the ground; large art installations and other structures, with the exception of sleeping tents and shade tents; fireworks; the dumping of human waste, wastewater or other liquids on the playa; and aircraft landings.
In other words, the BLM has banned most of the festival’s signature attractions. Still, die-hard Burners said being among fellow revelers and artists is enough of a reason to brave the wildfire smoke and alkali dust, that sometimes makes Black Rock City resemble a scene from “Lawrence of Arabia.”
Turns out that more than several thousand campers showed up for that unofficial 2021 celebration. The Reno Gazette-Journal later reported that “20,000 or more” people made it out to the playa for the 2021 “Renegade Burn.”
“In place of pricey tickets, dedicated Burners brought plastic bags and buckets onto the smoke-filled playa to cart off their own waste,” wrote the RGJ’s Evan Haddad. “Motorcycles and dirt bikes, not permitted during official Burning Man, weaved through the camps, which were stationed in rows around a vast, mostly empty circle that, in years past, showcased the Man and his Temple in all their burning glory.”
As for this year’s event, which officially kicked off yesterday, tickets are still available, if you’re up for a last-minute jaunt to the Black Rock Desert—and you have at least $740.25 to spare.
—Jimmy Boegle
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