Burning Man Festival

[Epster]

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@ASTRAEA wrote:

65,000 people .. not a fan of crowds!

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I'm typically not either, though the reason I keep turning down the invitation --our friends go in a caravan of RVs-- is the dust: I'm allergic to the playa.

But they take great photos and make fabulous videos and tell arresting stories so I don't feel I need to go risk attendance.

[nyadrn]

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@ASTRAEA wrote:

Is this like Woodstock, where everyone just camps out, and there are no real bathrooms?

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No there are many wealthy people who attend setting up camps for themselves and their friends, and hotels available but there lots of avg people who come for the drugs and the scene and sleep wherever they can.  I obviously would not do that. 😀

[ASTRAEA]

65,000 people .. not a fan of crowds!

[Epster]

Here's some videos of last year's event.

[Epster]

We have a set of friends that go to this every year. It's mostly an art exhibit on a playa.

[ASTRAEA]

Is this like Woodstock, where everyone just camps out, and there are no real bathrooms?

[nyadrn]

I have always thought this would be interesting to see...  maybe when I retire

: )

Recently, the mannequins in the window of the Manhattan vintage shop Reminiscence traded their summer outfits for Sgt.-Pepper-style military coats with tassels and epaulettes, harem pants, platform boots, headdresses, goggles, and, perhaps most mystifyingly, bulky faux fur coats.

The reason was simple: Burning Man.

Burning Man, an annual gathering that draws about 65,000 participants to the Nevada desert for more than a week, may be 2,750 miles away, but this time of year it is very present in New York at apartment sales, weekend bazaars, trunk shows, dance parties and at the city’s costume, vintage and army surplus stores and even its sex shops, where shoppers assemble the elaborate outfits that are all but required on the Playa, as the gathering site is called.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/18/nyregion/bound-for-burning-man-but-first-the-costume.html?em_pos=...

[nyadrn]

Bound for Burning Man, but First the Costume

https://www.nytimes.com/topic/subject/burning-man-festival?inline=nyt-classifier

Burning Man is an annual gathering that takes place at Black Rock City—a temporary city erected in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. The event is described as an experiment in community and art, influenced by 10 main principles: "radical" inclusion, self-reliance and self-expression, as well as community cooperation, civic responsibility, gifting, decommodification, participation, immediacy and leaving no trace.

First held in 1986 on Baker Beach in San Francisco as a small function organized by Larry Harvey and a group of friends, it has since been held annually, spanning from the last Sunday in August to the first Monday in September (the U.S. Labor Day). Burning Man 2016 was held between August 28 and September 5, 2016.

At Burning Man the community explores various forms of artistic self-expression, created in celebration for the pleasure of all participants. Participation is a key precept for the community – selfless giving of one's unique talents for the enjoyment of all is encouraged and actively reinforced. Some of these generous outpourings of creativity can include experimental and interactive sculpture, building, performance, and art cars among other media, often inspired by the yearly theme, chosen by organizers.

The event takes its name from its culmination, the symbolic ritual burning of a large wooden effigy ("the Man") that traditionally occurs on the Saturday evening of the event.[2][3][4][5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_to_the_Universe