Nevada's BurningMan Festival, held over the Labor Day weekend, is so astounding, and so unknown, that 1997's event deserves a look back.

Anything goes at the Burning- Man Festival, where the rules are few and the possibilities are endless. A tribe of thousands gathers in the Nevada desert at summer's end to partake in the meaningless but mesmerizing ritual of burning the "Man," a 50-foot wooden and neon icon doused with gasoline and stuffed with firework

In 1986, artist Larry Harvey and 11 of his friends built a wooden man and torched it on a beach in San Francisco. A crowd gathered and Burning Man was born. "The moment it was lit, our numbers tripled," Harvey says. "We had instantly created a community." Eleven years later the community has grown to 15,000, creating a society where all are encouraged to take their individualism as far as it will go. "It is no longer an event, it is a movement, a phenomenon," Harvey says.

The freak out at the funkadelic scene, playing naked Twister and shooting off flame-throwers. Money is worthless, though a few bartering materials such as gasoline, cigarettes and beer might get you a ride on the floating living room or the sailing bed.

For five days over Labor Day weekend, three miles of Black Rock Desert -- the longest, flattest expanse in North America -- is transformed into a self-contained city: Black Rock City, Nev., home of the BurningMan. Even though there is no water or power system, the city thrives with energy. There are only two rules here; bring all you need and take back all you bring. In the desert you confront your own survival. There is nothing to buy; commercial trade is forbidden. Money is worthless, although a few bartering materials such as gasoline, cigarettes and beer might get you a ride on the floating living room or the sailing bed.

There are no sponsorships or souvenir stands. The event is not about money. Organizers would rather see it fail than take on commercialism. That's one of the reasons so many people have never heard of BurningMan. You won't see an advertisement or a T-shirt. Information about the event mostly spreads over the Internet. Some have called it a physical representation of the Internet because of the interaction between thousands of strangers in a surreal world where everyone is equal and all are welcome, except the intolerant, who seldom attend anyway.

The BurningMan is a weekend away from the ordinary. Most participants have regular jobs and normal interests. They come to step away from their possessions, lifestyles and routines to do, be, wear -- or not wear -- whatever they want. And, of course, they come to burn stuff.

There are dozens of performances each night where everything gets set on fire or explodes. On the final night, the primitive ritual of burning the Man mesmerizes the crowd. It is a moving experience that burns inside all those who are witness to the event long after the flames have died. Until next year.

Copyright 1997, Little Rock Newspapers, Inc. All rights reserved.
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