I have a bunch of friends and co workers that have, and some still, attend Burning Man. Some spend months building "installations" and other artwork to haul down to the Playa.

But over the last 5 or more years less are participating, saying BM has "jumped the shark" and seems to be more corporate than it's original beginnings.

Yeah, from what Don D. here posted and I've read, it's changed to a ton of rich kids and celebrities going, starting 10 years ago and it's been ruined from the original ideals. I was supposed to go in '20 but it was cancelled.

This very much reminds me of the trajectory that the Sturgis Rally took a couple of decades ago. My first time, in the mid 1980's (can't remember which year, but it was before 1986, when I got married). I rode the same Ironhead Sportster I still own today, wearing a backpack, with sleeping bag and tent strapped on the front and back. Had to carry a gas can to supplement the range of my 2 1/2 gallon "peanut" tank.

Most everyone I met upon arrival looked about like me. Road weary, bedraggled. But we had ridden there from all points of the compass, on motorcycles that took a fair amount of nursing along the way on such a journey. Many were wondering if their "faithful" steed would even get them home. Many had them pretty much completely torn apart in their efforts to ensure they would.

Fast forward to 2005, the last time I rode to Sturgis (I had gone in 2000 and 2003 as well). Ten times the number of people. Motorcycle trailers parked everywhere. Yuppies doing their level best to misbehave for a week before they trailered their "billet barges" back home. It had become some sort of a sad cartoon caricature of itself. Over commercialized, over priced everything. My riding buddy and I stopped on Lazelle Street (the main drag through downtown) on the way in to gas up. We stood there looking down Lazelle, and without saying a word to one another, saddled up and rode the other way. We spent a wonderful week riding through Wyoming and Montana, the week we were going to spend at Sturgis. Haven't even considered going since.

I would imagine that the old timers of Burning Man feel the same way. They had a really cool thing going. Alas, it's time to put a fork in it...

+1
I was going to point that out after your first post.
Accountants, lawyers, doctors, other exec; love to pay dress-up (or should I say dress DOWN?) and make believe they are big bad bikers. You can spot them at the Tail of the Dragon. Manicured fingernails. Pristine bikes. Gucci leathers that look like they were worn one time. Sturgis became a magnet for these posers.

This is a non-fatal version of the Ocean Gate submersible failure.
Life is hard. Its harder if you are stupid and take unnecessary risks.

Now the BM posers have something to brag about at their next cocktail party on the yacht.

(Disclaimer: no reflection on anyone here who may go to BM. Simply a reflection on the psychology of the motivations and ending results.)

So you’re thinking of going next year? Another road trip out west in the 911?

Both ways. In the snow.

I have pass for next year.

I don't, but I figure a few slots will open up:cool:

It is hard to create original content these days and have it not jump the commercial chasm, the shark and become a Liberty Mutual ad. It just is.

I have flown over the site many times flying out of Fallon...not even sure BM was a thing when I did. There is nothing on the Earth more beautiful than desert mountains from 20ft AGL piloting an air-condition SH-60.

Ok, I'm back from memory lane: Everyone associated with BM is smart. They need a cleanse and they know it.

^^^ agreed.

I wonder how the success metrics for the first couple years of BM differ from the success metrics for the 2023 event.

I gotta imagine they are more than a bit different.

Yea, and then on to Venice beach in California to get some facial tats, and piercings then hang out and sleep on the beach!

I am glad they have the freedom to party like it is after the apocalypse, and express themselves however they please, just don't expect me to pay a nickle to help rescue them.

Survival for starters then morphing into selfie count and tiktok likes.

Isn't there also recognition for the greatest level of debauchery?

Based on the founding principles of Burning Man, I don't think success was a metric that was considered.

It has been consistently and continuously less successful for the last 10 years if founding principles are used as a metric.

Reminds me of the movie "Deliverance" for some reason.
What goes on out there anyway?
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1693834885.jpg

If you don't have an inkling of what happens out there you probably don't need to know now.
The essence of what it was is long overshadowed by what it's become.

I think Sturgis is the perfect example of the reciprocal to Burning Man. One's for cowboys and one-percenters, the other is for gentle hippies and artists. (Or, these days for playacting the part.) I doubt if either event is any fun at all anymore. I'm not fascinated by the idea of attending. I wouldn't be surprised if the BM organizers didn't just say eff-it and shut it down for next year. Sturgis on the other hand, well, it's too big to fail now. The towns it supports need that money to limp through to next year.

holy crap the admission tickets were $600 each per person! and $150 per RV camper.

The really sad part about Sturgis is that the town, and surrounding towns, don't actually keep most of the revenue. Retail space fronting Lazelle Street has become lucrative enough for the month surrounding the rally that the owners of that space can leave it empty the rest of the year and more than make up for that during the rally. The businesses that rent it for that month during the rally are all from out of town. The place is a ghost town when the rally isn't on.

And, yeah, I know the official rally is only one week. The "unofficial" has dramatically expanded. As it got more popular, it became known that the week before was the "real" time to be there. Then Deadwood became the "real" place to be. Then a week before, in Deadwood... and so on. Now it's basically a full month in the entire area. And, like Burning Man, it all just pops up and then goes away. Very few of the locals reap any economic benefit from any of it.

I went in 2019 and you guys got it right. Glad I went. Had a blast but I knew the whole thing was much different than the early years.

Our exodus was fairly normal from what my friend said. It was 12 hours to Fallon. The traffic turns the desert floor into a very fine silt. We saw probably 4-5 Civic/Corolla size cars extremely overloaded and stuck with the front wheels spinning.

And the death isn't rare at all.

...preach

The original "Burners" that I know went back in the late 90's-early 2000's. It was based on artistic expression and bartering. No money, as long as you had fuel, water, drugs and food to trade you were pretty much good to go.

Way more commercialized now.