BURNING Man has officially gone virtual for the second year in a row due to Covid while some diehard fans of the festival are flocking to the Nevada desert for a "Renegade Burn."
Local officials estimate as many as 10,000 people will travel to the Black Rock Desert this weekend, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.
However, the Bureau of Land Management placed temporary restrictions on the area that include no fires other than campfires, no burning structures, and no possession of alcohol or lasers.
The agency also warned that "there are no medical and emergency resources close to the playa and multiple emergencies may result in extended response times.”
According to reports from some of the partiers at the unofficial festival, one man is lucky to be alive after being thrown from a dune buggy at high speeds.
"A passenger got ejected. Almost a death, but survived. Be careful out here, be safe," one person posted, according to a local report.
Read our Burning Man live blog for the latest news and updates…
- Cybele Mayes-Osterman
NO BURNING STRUCTURES
The Bureau of Land Management has added new restrictions to this year’s unofficial festival in the Nevada desert.
Guest cannot build structures, campfires are the only fires allowed, and structures cannot be burnt.
Marian Goodell, CEO of Burning Man told Forbes, “We’re not dissuading people from going. But I don’t think you should try to go if you’re not an experienced Burner. And if you last went in 1996, when we respected the dangers of the desert, and communal effort was key, this is your year.”
- Cybele Mayes-Osterman
CROWD OF 20,000
This year's event could draw an estimated 20,000 people to the Black Rock Desert, despite its cancellation in April.
That compares with a total attendance of 80,000 at the 2019 festival, the year before the Pandemic.
- Cybele Mayes-Osterman
'MUTANT CARS' ARRIVE
- Cybele Mayes-Osterman
'THE GREAT UNKNOWN'
According to the Wall Street Journal, organizers say the purpose of the festival is “to build a city out of thin air where participants live in a utopian society that follows principles of ‘decommodification,’ or avoiding all money transactions, and ‘radical inclusion.'”
The theme of this year’s installment is “The Great Unknown.”
- Julia Fields
BURNING MAN
The main attraction of the festival is the burning of a giant wooden effigy, of which the festival gets its name.
This year, it will take place on September 4 virtually and in person livestreamed at an undisclosed location.
- Julia Fields
RISK TO NATIVE TRIBE
The Black Rock Desert is near the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe.
When Burning Man was cancelled in April, the tribe’s chairperson Janet Davis told NPR, "For us it is a sigh of relief," and told the Reno Gazette Journal “that influx of people would be a risk to our tribe."
- Julia Fields
TICKET PAGE
Someone has set up an Eventbrite ticket page for the event titled “Renegade Man / Plan B / Free Burn.”
They are not charging money, but asking for registration in a likely email collection scam.
- Julia Fields
ONLINE CHAT ROOMS
Attendees for the festival have organized online with Facebook groups, one even gathering over 11k members.
There is also a reddit page called RenegadeBurn with 1,500 members with frequent posts in the Burning Man subreddit with 55k members.
- Julia Fields
WASHOE COUNTY IN HIGH ALERT COVID ZONE
Washoe County in Nevada, which attendants would have to travel through to get to the desert, is in the red high-transmission Covid zone, according to the CDC.
- Julia Fields
BURNING MAN VIRTUAL FEATURES
Virtual reality company BRCvr is recreating the Burning Man festival grounds for this year.
One of the themes is the festival's history, meaning the virtual festival grounds will feature Museum of 20 Temples and Museum of the Man, which showcase Burning Man's past.
The technology will also feature live performances shot in Los Angeles on green screens.
- Julia Fields
REPORT OF INCIDENT
A user posted in a large Facebook group about the incident that occurred over the weekend at the rogue festival.
They wrote, "Spoke to a volunteer medical responder who was at the scene last night.
“They told me the patient was a 70 year old male driving a customized dune buggy. It rolled over 3+ times (assume at high speed). Suffered shoulder injury and reported pain at C3-4 (spine around neck) area.
"Was able to feel sensations at limbs. Fire services and ambulance was dispatched (I actually saw them from my camp driving in and out). Unsure about current patient condition or medivac situation.”
The speed limit at Burning Man is 5mph.
- Julia Fields
WITNESS STATEMENTS
"A passenger got ejected. Almost a death, but survived. Be careful out here, be safe," one person posted, according to a local report.
Another allegedly claimed: "Spoke to a volunteer medical responder who was at the scene last night… They told me the patient was a 70-year-old male driving a customized dune buggy. It rolled over 3+ times."
- Julia Fields
POTENTIAL CROWD
A report from Forbes estimates the number of attendees at Renegade Burning Man can be anywhere from 5k to 30.
- Julia Fields
WHEN DID BURNING MAN ORIGINATE?
Burning Man has been occurring annually for 35 years.
It first occurred on San Francisco's Baker Beach.
- Julia Fields
THE 10 PRINCIPLES
According to the Burning Man website, there are 10 principles that act as "as a reflection of the community’s ethos and culture as it had organically developed since the event’s inception" created by Burning Man co-founder Larry Harvey
They are as follows:
- radical inclusion
- gifting
- decommidification
- radical self-reliance
- radical self-expression
- communal effort
- civic responsibility
- leaving no trace
- participation
- immediacy
- Julia Fields
WELCOMING ROGUE ATTENDEES
Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority, Charles Harris has not discouraged visitors from flocking to the region.
“We’re very mindful of our friends and family and visitors that live up in Lake Tahoe or were scheduled to be up there,” Harris told SFGATE.
He added, “We are open and certainly Reno and Sparks area is safe. We’re continuing on with our business.”
- Julia Fields
'KINDA FUN'
A spokesperson from the Reno-Tahoe airport called the makeshift event "kind of fun."
Stacey Sunday added, “It's back to where it started. No tickets, just going out into the desert."
- Julia Fields
ARRIVING EARLY
Heather O'Hanlon, Public affairs specialist at Winnemucca District Office Bureau of Land Management, said that people began arriving as early as August 20.
She expects around 10k people in attendance, but poor air quality in the region due to wildfires may turn people away.
- Julia Fields
EXTENDED EXPERIENCE PASS
In the past, expensive Burning Man tickets often included an extended experience pass allowing visitors to return to the desert freely for 30 days.
- Julia Fields
THEME
Each year, Burning Man has a different theme.
The festival this year features plenty of art and music in accordance with this year’s theme of “The Great Unknown.”
- Julia Fields
2020 THEME
The theme of the 2020 virtual festival was “Metamorpheses.”
When revealing the theme, organizers shared “The 2020 Burning Man event theme explores the quantum kaleidoscope of possibility, the infinite realities of the multiverse, and our own superpositioning as actors and observers in the cosmic Cacophony of resonant strings,” says a statement released by the festival.”
- Julia Fields
LAND MANAGEMENT STATEMENT
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Winnemucca District, which has jurisdiction over the area, told SFist that "There are currently no restrictions around the Black Rock playa at this time.
"The area is expecting high visitation over the summer months and public safety is a priority while managing our resources."
- Julia Fields
PURPOSE OF BURNING MAN
According to the Wall Street Journal, organizers say the purpose of the festival is "to build a city out of thin air where participants live in a utopian society that follows principles of 'decommodification,' or avoiding all money transactions, and 'radical inclusion.'"
The theme of this year's installment is "The Great Unknown."
- Julia Fields
ADULT ONLY ATTRACTIONS
Nudity and sex are common pulls of the attraction.
BRCvr, an online community that helped build the virtual worlds advised, “Though there is no official Orgy Dome, responsible community members can create adult-only events."
- Julia Fields
HOW MUCH DOES BURNING MAN COST?
This year's virtual Burning Man is free, but donation is requested.
Usual, tickets to the annual festival cost $500.
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