Population cap increase???

[Elderberry]

Ever since the year it snowed, we bring a propane heater, just in case.

[vpismo]

From what I have read over the years, traffic is the concern. The road can carry only so many cars per hour.
Based on that primary restriction, I have long advocated lengthening the event to spread traffic over more days, and in recent years we have seen small moves in that direction -- primarily the earlier "soft" opening of entry, first by six hours a few years ago, then by another eight hours in 2014. Improvements have also been made in Exodus traffic, though I don't know quite how that has been accomplished.
While Exodus traffic has been the biggest problem for Participants, I suspect Arrival traffic is more important because this is when the public highway can become jammed.

I'm not sure if this is heresy or not but has anyone discussed the possibly making two burning man festivals? Maybe spread them out a couple weeks or even months?
Other "events" like Jazz Fest and Coachella moved to two weeks when they became too popular. I suppose you could trade one weeks tickets with another if you are trying to hook up with a certain group. I just think the current situation is not sustainable.

[digital]

I'm not sure if this is heresy or not but has anyone discussed the possibly making two burning man festivals? Maybe spread them out a couple weeks or even months?
Other "events" like Jazz Fest and Coachella moved to two weeks when they became too popular. I suppose you could trade one weeks tickets with another if you are trying to hook up with a certain group. I just think the current situation is not sustainable.

No. Just NO!

[omegared]

I'm not sure if this is heresy or not but has anyone discussed the possibly making two burning man festivals? Maybe spread them out a couple weeks or even months?
Other "events" like Jazz Fest and Coachella moved to two weeks when they became too popular. I suppose you could trade one weeks tickets with another if you are trying to hook up with a certain group. I just think the current situation is not sustainable.

No. Just NO!

I agree.

[LionsNzebras]

I'm not sure if this is heresy or not but has anyone discussed the possibly making two burning man festivals? Maybe spread them out a couple weeks or even months?
Other "events" like Jazz Fest and Coachella moved to two weeks when they became too popular. I suppose you could trade one weeks tickets with another if you are trying to hook up with a certain group. I just think the current situation is not sustainable.

No. Just NO!

I agree.

Agreed, there are 5 local ones I can hit, and at least a dozen more within 2000 miles of my home hehe. Its a quick drive, no big deal

[SnowBlind]

I'm not sure if this is heresy or not but has anyone discussed the possibly making two burning man festivals?

Cool, that should surely cut the population in half.

But then I only get to see half of the Art... I know, I'll simply go to both of them

[omegared]

I'm not sure if this is heresy or not but has anyone discussed the possibly making two burning man festivals?

Cool, that should surely cut the population in half.

But then I only get to see half of the Art... I know, I'll simply go to both of them

I would guess a large percentage would just go to both and it wouldn't really solve the problem... would help because some could only attend one but wouldn't solve the problem.

[SnowBlind]

I'm not sure if this is heresy or not but has anyone discussed the possibly making two burning man festivals?

Cool, that should surely cut the population in half.

But then I only get to see half of the Art... I know, I'll simply go to both of them

I would guess a large percentage would just go to both and it wouldn't really solve the problem... would help because some could only attend one but wouldn't solve the problem.

Yes, that's what I was getting at. Instead of one sold out festival, we'd have two sold out festivals.

[digital]

Yes, that's what I was getting at. Instead of one sold out festival, we'd have two sold out festivals.

And the organizers would have to do the event twice. Good luck with that. Once is hard enough.

[Eric]

I'm not sure if this is heresy or not but has anyone discussed the possibly making two burning man festivals? Maybe spread them out a couple weeks or even months?

You do realize that it takes 3-4 weeks before the Gate even opens to set the event up, and that there is still a scramble at the last minute to get things in place (I don't remember the last time The Man or the Temple were ready when Gate opened). Plus it takes a month after the event ends for clean-up. So, even if the BLM (and locals) were okay with this, you'd still be looking at a 2 month time frame for set-up to tear-down for each event. Plus you'd have to pay people for that. And find enough artists and theme camps willing to do something like this to make it worth attending. It just ain't gonna happen. Burning Man started as a 3-day weekend event, now it's a full week. I think we've hit our wall on how far that can be extended.

[LionsNzebras]

I'm not sure if this is heresy or not but has anyone discussed the possibly making two burning man festivals? Maybe spread them out a couple weeks or even months?

You do realize that it takes 3-4 weeks before the Gate even opens to set the event up, and that there is still a scramble at the last minute to get things in place (I don't remember the last time The Man or the Temple were ready when Gate opened). Plus it takes a month after the event ends for clean-up. So, even if the BLM (and locals) were okay with this, you'd still be looking at a 2 month time frame for set-up to tear-down for each event. Plus you'd have to pay people for that. And find enough artists and theme camps willing to do something like this to make it worth attending. It just ain't gonna happen. Burning Man started as a 3-day weekend event, now it's a full week. I think we've hit our wall on how far that can be extended.

Bah, lets make it 3 weeks with the 2 months pre and post, will be fine....

[Elliot]

Being me... I have this recipe:

Extend the Event to two weeks. That would solve the arrival-traffic problem, since Participants would trickle in over more days.
Burn The Man two or three days earlier (still using Labor Day as the Last Day of Event). That would solve the exodus-traffic problem, since... well, you get it.

The "per day" costs, such as pumping-out of the potties, per-capita fees to BLM, wages to Law Enforcement, etc, would increase by six days, but all the set-up and take-down expenses would remain unchanged. And with peak traffic density slashed, more tickets could be sold, which would cover those daily costs. (I do not have the numbers for this, but I feel the concept is sound.)

[LionsNzebras]

Being me... I have this recipe:

Extend the Event to two weeks. That would solve the arrival-traffic problem, since Participants would trickle in over more days.
Burn The Man two or three days earlier (still using Labor Day as the Last Day of Event). That would solve the exodus-traffic problem, since... well, you get it.

The "per day" costs, such as pumping-out of the potties, per-capita fees to BLM, wages to Law Enforcement, etc, would increase by six days, but all the set-up and take-down expenses would remain unchanged. And with peak traffic density slashed, more tickets could be sold, which would cover those daily costs. (I do not have the numbers for this, but I feel the concept is sound.)

Elliot I am totally with you there bud. Even the travel from Canada would be the same, if the event was longer....the only people that would miss us, is our workplaces hehe. *im still sick cough cough...

hey what is that sound in the background.....ER..the T.V.?

[trilobyte]

Extending the event would not only significantly increase the costs of producing the event, but also put some serious strains on volunteer needs and make for a drastically weird experience for participants

BLM doesn't just let Burning Man use the land for free, and they charge A LOT more for during event days vs. pre/post event. Same is true for the porta potty servicing, dust abatement and other infrastructure services. That and if you're trying to fill twice as many volunteer shifts but with what's effectively a reduced population (since as you say, people are trickling in/out over more time), you conceivably make it harder to cover stuff like gate, perimeter, ice, rangers, etc. The weird experience comes in because you'd wind up with oddball holes in the city. Voids where placed camps will eventually be, but since they can't do two full weeks and only come in for the second half (or leave halfway through the week), the city always looks a little weird to me when people pull up their stakes early on Saturday or Sunday.. you'd have some version of that happening all throughout an extended event.

[theCryptofishist]

No. If you were doing two, you'd expand through space, not time. Well time, too, but space would be the real difference...

[Canoe]

... make for a drastically weird experience for participants...

Well we can't have that.

[trilobyte]

LOL... I meant the bad/awkward kind of weird... 50% or more of the placed camp space could be vacant/derelict lots at any given time during the event (burning rust belt?), and who knows how the city would expand or mutate to accommodate later arrivals or to fill in spaces left by early departures.

[catfishpkt]

Two weeks would also make moop accountability almost impossible.