Sept. 7, 1999

BLACK ROCK CITY, Nevada

This year's Black Rock City looked more like Calcutta than Hooverville with a record number of people attending the end-of-summer bacchanalia.

More than 17,000 celebrants had made their way to Burning Man by Friday, according to the Black Rock Ministry of Statistics. The number grew to 20,000 – some news outlets estimated 24,000 – over the weekend. The number far exceeded the 1998 record of 15,000. With 240 portable toilets on the playa, it worked out to more than 70 people per potty.

Nonetheless, the event remained remarkably peaceful and almost injury-free. There were a number of dehydration cases, but Burning Man medics reported only minor injuries.

The Black Rock Rangers, the Burning Man version of law enforcement, had similarly smooth sailing. Their most violent incident involved last Tuesday's eviction of the rabble-rousing Capitalist Pig camp. Otherwise, it was Burning Man business as usual – warm days, cool nights, raging windstorms, glitter-bedecked freaks for as far as the eye can see. The social calendar swelled with parties and events competing for guests every hour of the week.

The 50-foot Man blazed above it all on Saturday night, as revelers circled around counterclockwise.The number of theme camps also increased, with the following groups counting themselves among the hundreds of registered groups:

Freezing Man
Freezing Man aimed to make up for the sad lack of ice cream on the playa with its converted ice cream truck, which cruised Black Rock City handing out frozen desserts to lucky campers.

The PlayaPhone Project
To the vast disappointment of civilization-hungry campers, the PlayaPhone couldn't be used to call in sick to work post-burn. The closed-circuit system simply allowed partygoers at various locations on the to pick up the phone and chat with each other.

Atari Camp
There was neither Quake nor Doom – Atari Camp was dedicated only to the most low-tech computer games: Asteroids and other 70s favorites wooed a crowd of joystick-happy players to the Atari lounge daily.Seemen
The San Francisco industrial-minded tricksters are Burning Man favorites, and this year's crop of robotic and industrial art included a do-it-yourself flamethrower mounted on a stationary bike and a bicycle-powered carousel.

The Tesla Coil
Last year, the dramatic demonstration of static electricity wowed the playa, and this year the Tesla Coil has gone mobile. Mounted on the back of a flatbed, the Tesla Coil motored around the playa sending sparks in all directions.

Dirt Nap Camp
People who wrote the names of their enemies on one of DNC's tombstones saw the names go up in smoke Saturday, the night of the Burn. People who provided email addresses could send photos of their nemesis' epitaph. DNC also provided an e-kill service for those who want to vanquish enemies online.

Submerging Man
Artist Finley Fryer – creator of the two-story illuminated plastic Temple of the Burning Book in 1998 – was back with his new creation, a 20-foot figure of a man built entirely of discarded plastic over a steel structure. The creation is lit from within, creating beautiful stained-glass patterns, with an internal sound system providing audio accompaniment.

Costco Soul Mate Trading Outlet
"We've got the best soul mate matching at the lowest prices," promised Costco's Rico Thunder, inviting people to bring in used soul mates so the camp could fix them up with fresh, new loved ones.