Exactly How long is Burning Man this year?

Omnidexter · Post by **Omnidexter** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 5:33 am

Hey all!, A first timer here..

I was wondering, the BM home page says the event runs from the 29th Aug to 5th Sept.... That's 8 days! I thought Burning Man runs for 5 days? - What is it, a few days on either end for seting up & cleaning up??

Please let us know.

Cheers,

rod.

Janka · Post by **Janka** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 5:54 am

You are mistaken, it runs from Monday to, well, Sunday, plus the last Monday for breaking camp and exodus. Of course, the very first days are more building and set-up than the later ones (duh), but I'd recommend being there as early into the week as possible. Even if you are not building anything big yourself, helping people who are is a great way to make friends and get into feeling part of the community, and just seeing BRC rise from the desert is an experience.

YMMV, of course.

Just for reference, 2004 was my first year.

Omnidexter · Post by **Omnidexter** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 6:39 am

Ok. Will do. - I may need to make friends early as most of my mates are going to Sonar in Barcelona instead. Ah well, there's plenty of time yet, so we'll see if I can convince them.

Thanks for that.

Rod.

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 6:40 am

Omnidexter, the event officially begins at midnight Monday the 29th (that's monday morning) and ends one week later (midnight on the 5th). You can get in earlier if you're registered with a theme camp and on the list of people pre-registered for that camp's setup. Most people break camp between Sunday morning and Monday afternoon.

Janka · Post by **Janka** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 6:48 am

If you are coming solo, you might want to find a theme camp that will take you in, before the event. I hear the procedure is to just email an interesting one and ask, but I have never done that myself, so I wouldn't know how it works. :)

Omnidexter · Post by **Omnidexter** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 6:53 am

Yeah, heard that. Considering it.

r

Omnidexter · Post by **Omnidexter** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 7:09 am

Yeah, heard that. Considering it.

r

Janka · Post by **Janka** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 7:35 am

Well, just to be fair - we were on our own last time, and found that that was very well for our first time (and we weren't only spectators either, though we do intend to contribute more this year), and did not wish we were with another camp, and plan to do our own stuff again this time. A guy we gave a ride to Reno on the way home, also a first-timer, on the other hand said that he wished he had also not gone with a theme camp; he found that working on someone else's project on someone else's time schedule was not in fact much about his self-expression and did not leave him with much energy do to his own things.

But these are the only two datapoints I have against joining a camp for your first year, and there are more for it, I suppose.

Bob A · Post by **Bob A** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 10:02 pm

I didn't theme camp last year either and it was my first year. Camped with 3 other friends so there were 2 virgins 2 repeats. I think I'm glad we didn't join a theme camp but I don't have an alternate reality where I did join a theme camp my first year so I don't know.

Had a great time did help out with small things, but feel like I want to participate a lot more this year. Not joining a theme camp this year again, but now I'm bringing two virgins. I'm building a bike powered portable bar so I can share the warmth were and when I feel like.

Bob A

regynalonglank · Post by **regynalonglank** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 8:39 pm

last year was my first year, camped with a theme camp. i think the guilt and feelings of lameness for not helping out much was balanced out nicely by the support in feeling totally overwhelmed, the tour guides, the infrastructure (can you say shower? oh yes, you can!) and anyways they didn't expect much of me, i just wanted to be a team player, and in the end all i did was stand around and stare gape mouthed and parade around in cute outfits, but somehow they didn't seem to mind too much. however this year i plan to be much more useful, because yes virginia, i am going back for more, second helping of theme camp please!

sputnik · Post by **sputnik** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 11:31 am

regynalonglank wrote:...in the end all i did was stand around and stare gape mouthed and parade around in cute outfits, but somehow they didn't seem to mind too much.

No. You're kidding me.

Also, was surprised to hear this was you're first year. You seemed to have been around forever.