Underage Virgin

[Deus Ex Machina]

Hey everybody, this will be my first year going to Burning Man as the final part of my trip the the states. By the time the week rolls around I'll be 20, which is great in Canada, but utterly useless in the States. I'm not worried about whether or not I can drink on the playa, as I hope to spend most of my time in music and art camps rather than bars, however I am concerned about whether or not I will be barred from certain camps or events due to my age.

The one thing that I have consistently heard about BRC is that once the sun goes down the place becomes a big party. Will my age prevent me from going to some of the shows and camps or will I be able to attend, just not drink?

Cheers

[Hope-a-Lope]

Hey Deus, from my experiences I was only carded when I was at a camp's bar, looking for a drink. Many will card once and stamp you. To just walk in or be on the dance floor, you should be fine. I didn't see anyone being carded for dancing

And yes, parts of the city (10, 2, esplanade) become a giant party at night, but you don't need 21 to be part of it. If you're looking so dance yer face off at night, those big sound camps are very open-air and easily accessible. Welcome to eplaya!

[Eric]

A) Bar camps can & will card you, and you can be asked to leave the bar area of the camp if you are underage. The police actively patrol bar camps, and they do undercover actions with minors to test camps. Fines can be several thousand dollars. You know you're underage, just don't go into them. Under Nevada law, you are also liable if you lie to obtain alcohol.

B) Anyone giving you alcohol can be fined or arrested, it is illegal to give alcohol to a minor in the US. Don't ruin someone else's Burn by getting them busted. Do your drinking at home.

C) You don't need an ID to dance, and there are hundreds & hundreds of places to do it. Hell, if the music you like is inside a bar camp, just dance on the edge of the street. No one will care.

D) There are no "shows" - it's a free-for-all. This isn't a music festival, it's an arts festival that's grown an extremely large music side to it, but there are things happening constantly and very little of it is on any sort of schedule. Hell, most of the time things that do get scheduled either don't happen, or don't happen when planned. Expect to go where whims take you.

E) The "big" sound camps (the ones you see in YouTube videos & on Flickr) are on the 2:00 & 10:00 arms of the city. They're pretty much open to the whole playa. Also, stop watching YouTube videos and looking at Burning Man pictures - they'll give you expectations about the event, and you should go with as few as possible.

[Deus Ex Machina]

Thanks you two for the replies. Just to clarify: I have no intention of trying to sneak into bar camps or lie to anyone to get alcohol. My only concern was if these "soundcamps" ID people before allowing entry like a club or bar would.

[C187]

The sound camps can't even manage where to allow people to park bikes at. Plus most of them don't have a bar. So you really have nothing to worry about.
It's only the bar camps that will be asking to see your ID. Some do it at the bar, others do it at what is considered a door. If you're going to drink do it at home. Simple as that.

[Eric]

Thanks you two for the replies. Just to clarify: I have no intention of trying to sneak into bar camps or lie to anyone to get alcohol. My only concern was if these "soundcamps" ID people before allowing entry like a club or bar would.

Most camps are pretty much in the open, I can only think of one of them (Root Society?) that had a huge (emphasis on huge) dome, but even there you just walked in. The camps on 2 & 10 tend to have huge open areas to walk through, and enormous areas to dance, most of the camps with dancing in the rest of the city have much smaller areas (except Distrikt on 9:00, which has a huge open area for dancing, plus a bar. You don't need to worry about the bar, they only card you if you go up to it)

Nothing on the playa is like a bar or club in the traditional sense. At all.*


*You will not understand all the layers to this statement until you've been.

[maladroit]

Don't get caught with alcohol and don't ruin someone's year by letting them give you alcohol. Other than that: Welcome to the playa, may every expectation be ruined and every plan fail completely (you'll also realize later why this is the best possible outcome).

[Token]

The one thing that I have consistently heard about BRC is that once the sun goes down the place becomes a big party.

The drinking is a bummer, but you can fuck all you want as long as your partners are over 18.

Re-calibrate!

[Savannah]

The one thing that I have consistently heard about BRC is that once the sun goes down the place becomes a big party.

Cheers

The only time there's actually a slight lull in the party is from sun-up 'til brunch.

There's been great advice in the thread so far. Thanks for pledging not to lie for booze--it'd be taking advantage of someone's kindness, even though they should know better.

Don't worry--there's very little you won't be able to do. There are are no walls, doors, or doormen at the big and medium dance floors and raves. You'll be able to dance your face off.