For some participants, Burning Man is more than just party-time and a week-long vacation in the dust. It's also a chance to experience a utopian community and carry back a little of it to the "default" world.
While waiting in line for Center Camp coffee, one of the few items sold at the event, an Iranian-American said in her country there's a legend about black rocks with the power to heal. Mitra said she had experienced personal healing in the Black Rock Desert and thinks that could be another reason the event attracts a crowd. She believes there's something beyond the superficial art, music and fashion.
"They call it the patient or the wise rock and you pretty much confess all your pain to it," Mitra said. "I'm wondering if there's some ability in this land to contain the energy we are releasing. The experience has been intense in terms of the issues I'm resolving and the beauty of everything here."
Mitra felt some of that intensity in the "Temple" where burners laid memorials and photos of lost loved ones. The intricate structure is torched each year during a solemn ceremony at the end of the festival.
At Black Rock City, men in macho kilts and women in day-glo fake fur crossed paths with corporate and political elite disguised in body suits. The event is evolving beyond anarchy with less nudity and more "turnkey" theme camps
for the rich and famous becoming prevalent or at least more publicized.
For better or worse, the world-famous event is now a mecca for more than the peace and love crowd.
CORPORATE BURNERS
According to former San Francisco Chronicle reporter Nellie Bowles, the festival has become a "corporate retreat" where deals are made by members of the Silicon Valley tech elite. Along with refugees roughing it in pup tents, there's an airport and luxurious RV camps with private chefs.
"What we're seeing are many more of the Fortune 500 leadership, entrepreneurs and small start ups bringing their whole team," BM Business and Communications Director Marian Goodell told Bowles.
This year Republican leader Grover Norquist reportedly checked off the "Burning Man" item allegedly on his bucket list. Norquist told the National Journal the festival proves the theory that order evolves out of chaos and the BM organization is similar to his own group Americans for Tax Reform.
"These are similar organizations except that we tend to wear more clothes at the Wednesday meetings."
BRC manager Harley Dubois joked with reporters at last week's BRC news conference hosted by herself and Burning Man co-founder Larry Harvey that finally, in its 29th year, the festival "has jumped the shark" with the "radical inclusion" of corporate icons such as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
"If we can change corporate America then we really can have an impact," Dubois told reporters, including Sarah Buhr of Tech Crunch TV News. "Change is inevitable. Our world keeps changing and our event is going to keep changing because our world is changing."
Harvey, 66, said the event is changing demographically in other ways approaching a real world balance of men and women, Republicans and Democrats although 41 percent of attendees listed themselves this year as politically "unaffiliated" according to the BRC Census Lab. The average Burner age is trending downward into the late 20s and early 30s and about 40 percent of this year's Burners are "first-timers."
Most old-timers accept the evolution while others "should try to interact with their neighbors and include them," Harvey told reporters. Critics complain the festival has gone downhill as it has grown up in size. This year's iconic effigy was bigger than ever at more than 105 feet tall but the crowd appeared disappointed when the fire diminished while the structure remained upright during Saturday's finale. Like moths to a flame, spectators usually rush in as the Man collapses into a blazing rubble pile.
Twenty-something, first-time burner Jordan Boyce of San Diego enjoys the peace and love thing but thinks it's unsustainable outside Burning Man. He's a project manager in the tech industry but, unlike the rich allegedly staked out nearby, he camped "guerrilla style" in a tarp-covered black Ford mini-van. He wouldn't reveal his company's name or the venture capitalists he might network with at the festival.
Boyce said he had friendly interactions with people from around the world in the global community at BRC and suggested Burning Man should remain open to anyone who's open to change at the festival.
"A huge part of this community is bringing in new people," Boyce said. "You wouldn't have the principle of radical inclusion if you didn't want to welcome new participants. I would ask veteran Burners to open their minds, not get crusty and I'd ask new Burners to avoid stepping on other people."
As for children at the event, Boyce believes parents, not the government, should make that decision.
"I feel like that's the parents' choice whether they want to involve their children in this event," he said. "It's the parents' duty to protect their children and to choose the right environments for their kids."
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"Kidsville" leader Dawn Grey said for years families have had the option of camp sites off-limits to "adult" behavior like illegal drug use, public alcohol consumption and open sex. Nudity is discouraged and rarely seen at the village where play structures, trampolines and other activities are available for children. The camp has expanded over the years with over 100 families this year, according to Grey.
"Kidsville is a wonderful place to be with other families, to share the time and help each other out," Grey said. "It's a great place for kids to play and get to know each other. We tell everyone there's no open sexuality, no drug use allowed and most people don't choose to do nudity here."
Families must register ahead of the event for camping space at Kidsville where each child receives a wrist band for identification in case they get lost in Black Rock City. The wrist bands display names and camp locations of family members at Kidsville who are expected to supervise their own children.
"One of our main tenants is every child must have a responsible adult with them at all times," Grey said. "They're not allowed to even get on an art car without an adult - you must be with your child."
The Black Rock Explorers program provides excursions around the city. Among other activities, children visited a star observatory, attended a Media Mecca photo class, interacted with BRC emergency services, made pancakes, served ice cream, judged art cars and toured art installations.
William Tholke, 14, and his little brother Nikolas Tholke, 8, said they'd rather be at Burning Man with their parents than be left behind despite the sometimes extreme dust, rain and mud on the playa.
"It wouldn't be that pleasant (to be left at home) because I really do like the playa," Nikolas said.
When mud nearly destroyed his shoes, William switched to bare feet and Nikolas enjoys "drifting" his bike tires in the dust. The brothers said the friendly, open attitudes at the event will go home with them.
