The Burn.Life Blog

A Visual History of Burning Man

3/9/2015

After finding the set of photos from 1990 (see previous blog post), I decided to create a project where I'd collect photos of the Man and, eventually, the Temple, along with stats (attendance, cost, etc) for that year. As I was putting this together, I started feeling the urge to include more and more, and so I've expanded it into a general photo-heavy history of Burning Man.

So far I've covered 1986 (the first year) to 1996, and I'll be adding the rest over time. Enjoy!

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Burning Man's First Year In The Desert

3/6/2015

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In 1990, on Memorial Day weekend, Larry Harvey and friends, which by now included a number of members of the Cacophony Society, gathered to burn the Man once again on Baker Beach. However, by now, the annual burning of a large wooden man was on the Golden Gate Park Police's radar. An officer showed up and permitted them to erect the Man, but not to burn it.

The crowd grew unruly, but this was perhaps the single best thing that ever happened to Burning Man.

Kevin Evans, one of the Cacophonists in attendance had, the previous year, been out to the Black Rock Desert for a wind sculpture event over Labor Day Weekend. On coming home, he "rallied a few friends and schoolmates around the idea of planning a Labor Day weekend trip to the Black Rock Desert."

The rest is history. He and the other Cacophonists invited Larry and company to bring the Man with them on what would be known as Zone Trip #4 - Bad Day at Black Rock.
All photos from C. Nick Lynch unless otherwise noted.

First Burn at the desert had RVs!

And kids!

This is the first raising of the Man during Zone Trip #4. Most of the people who attended are in this pic.

Photo: Stewart Harvey

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The Evolution of Burning Man

3/3/2015

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The Reno Gazette-Journal has an interesting timeline chronicling some interesting facts across the evolution of Burning Man from its beginning in 1986 to today.

It's pretty incredible to see the growth and to think about the challenges the organization has faced attempting to grow what was basically a group of friends throwing a non-conformist beach party into a city that gets together for 8 days every year and then disappears, without a trace.

Some highlights:

1986 (first year) - On Baker Beach. 35 people in attendance. The Man was 8 feet high.
1987 - Larry Harvey and friend James hand out flyers stating "join us at the northern naked end of Baker Beach on Saturday, June 20" for the second annual burn. Attendance: 80. Man's height: 15 feet.
1988 - Larry Harvey names the man 'Burning Man.' Attendance: 200. Man's height: 30 feet.
1989 - Park police arrive. Wonder who is in charge. Tv stations demonstrate inffectual attempt to stop the proceedings. Attendance: 300. Man's height: 40 feet.
1990 - 800 people attend the erecting of the Man on Baker Beach. It is moved to the Black Rock Desert to be Burned. Only about 90 people attend. Man's height:
1991 - First year the full event is held in the BRD. Attendance: 250.
1992 - Black Rock Rangers in effect for the first time. Attendance: 600.
1994 - First time admission is charged. $30. Attendance: 2,000.
1995 - Burning Man becomes the most populated settlement (even if temporary) in Pershing County, NV. Admission: $35. Attendance: 4,000.
1996 - Attendance: 8,000. Infrastructure begins to get strained.
1997 - Burning Man moves to private land. Admission: $50 and $65. Attendance: 10,000.
1998 - It moves back to the Black Rock Desert. Admission: $65, $80, or $100. Attendance: 15,000. Streets are now numbered and streets signs are on every corner.
1999 - First year the Man burned on Saturday night instead of Sunday, to allow people more time to clean up and leave no trace. Attendance: 23,000
2000 - Ticket prices rise to $200. Attendance: 25,400.
2002 - Counterfeiting had become a problem, and the new ticket vendor introduced foil-stamping onto the tickets to combat it. Attendance: 28,979.
2003 - Dogs have to stay at home for the first time. Attendance: 30,586.
2004 - Larry Harvey writes the 10 Principles, drawing them from widely-accepted practices within the BM community. Attendance: 35,664.
2006 - A delegation of officials form the Dept of the Interior and the BLM visit Burning Man to observe the largest Special Recreation Permit in the US. Attendance: 38,989.
2007 - Paul Addis, a disgruntled (and some would argue highly-principled) Burner set fire to the Man as a prank, burning it down days ahead of time. He was charged with a felony, and later committed suicide by jumping in front of a BART train. Attendance: 47,097
2009 - The first time Burning Man ever saw a population drop, likely due to the economic crisis at the time. Attendance: 43,558.
2010 - Attendance is back up at 51,525.
2011 - For the first time ever, Burning Man sells out, having sold as many tickets as its permit from the Bureau of Land Management allows. Attendance: 53,963.
2012 - Burning Man tries a lottery for tickets to try and deal with the excess demand. It does not go well. Tickets are now between $240 and $420. Attendance: 56,149.
2013 - BM sells out for the third year in a row and grows dramatically again. Admission: $380. Attendance: 69,613. Traffic rears its ugly head as the biggest barrier to growth.
2014 - Vehicle passes introduced for the first time, at $40/vehicle. Attendance: 65,992. The Man's height: 105 feet.

It's going to be interesting to see where it heads from here. The fundamental factor limiting a bigger Burning Man population is the two-lane highway leading to it, and there's no world in which it's worth widening a highway-to-nowhere just so an extra few tens of thousands of people can go party in the desert for a week.

Scarcity is going to be the new normal for Burning Man.

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1000 Faces of Burning Man

3/2/2015

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Burner Harry Barmon put up a photo project consisting of 1000 faces of people at Burning Man. Very cool! Can you find yourself in it?

I have to say, two things strike me as I look through these:

Happy people are attractive people, and Burners are happy at Burning Man. Ergo, Burners look pretty darn good at BM.
We are one white bunch. I mean, obviously I already know that, but boy...white.

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Burner version of "My Favorite Things"

3/1/2015

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I have to admit to a long-standing nostalgic love of "The Sound of Music" and recently (oddly, the afternoon before the Grammys that featured Julie Andrews) was motivated to write Burner-inspired lyrics for it. Then, I decided to hire a singer to record it for me, and figured as long as I'd done that I'd go all the way and put together a video for it.

I have a lot of favorite things about Burning Man. Here are some of them, set to song.

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The Blog That Burns

A Visual History of Burning Man

Burning Man's First Year In The Desert

The Evolution of Burning Man

1000 Faces of Burning Man

Burner version of "My Favorite Things"

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