Burning Man Suffers Growing Pains

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BLACK ROCK DESERT, Nevada (Reuters) - Erika stood in torn fishnet stockings, shorts leaving little to the imagination, examining an exhibit on electric cars set up in the middle of the Nevada desert at the countercultural Burning Man festival. "I dig the message," said Erika, 26, who did not give her last name. "But I'm not into how it's presented. It looks like a car show." The exhibit showcased alternative energy technologies but even the increasingly popular theme sparked some criticism as a betrayal of the festival's opposition to commercialization.

BLACK ROCK DESERT, Nevada (Reuters) - Erika stood in torn fishnet stockings, shorts leaving little to the imagination, examining an exhibit on electric cars set up in the middle of the Nevada desert at the countercultural Burning Man festival.


"I dig the message," said Erika, 26, who did not give her last name. "But I'm not into how it's presented. It looks like a car show."


The exhibit showcased alternative energy technologies but even the increasingly popular theme sparked some criticism as a betrayal of the festival's opposition to commercialization.


The divide among festival goers in a week-long event where corporate logos are banned was emblematic of the growing pains Burning Man is experiencing as it becomes larger and more influential.


What started as a series of small bonfire parties on a beach in San Francisco 21 years ago is now a massive, week-long revel, culminating on Labor Day weekend in the Nevada desert 107 miles north of Reno.


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The growing pains were evident last Tuesday when one attendee set fire to the festival's emblematic Burning Man, which had been due to go up in flames on Saturday. The accused arsonist was apparently motivated by a desire to inject more spontaneity into the event.


For all of the improvised elements to the Burning Man festival, some things are planned.


The Burning Man organization sets up street grids to delineate campsites, portable bathrooms and a list of ten principles the organization encourages "burners" to live by, including radical self-expression, civic responsibility and participation.


Visitors bring everything else, most notably works of art, wild costumes and fanciful vehicles dressed up to look like everything from pink cats to sailing ships.


Many groups set up bars, lounges and dance parties; others create restaurants. There are also cabarets, mini-golf courses, tea houses, workshops, lectures and yoga classes.


In accordance with one of the festival's ten principles, no financial transactions are permitted. All entertainment must be provided for free.


More than 45,000 people from around the world have attended this year, up from almost 40,000 last year, officials said.


CO-FOUNDS FEUD


In January, Burning Man co-founder, John Law, who severed his involvement with the festival a decade ago, sued the other two co-founders including current impresario Larry Harvey.


Law demanded they relinquish control of the Burning Man service mark and logo and release them into the public domain for anyone to use.


"Burning Man is the sum of the efforts of the tens of thousands of people who have contributed to making Burning Man what it is," Law wrote on his blog in January.


"I decided to fight to keep anyone from having an exclusive right to capitalize on these brands."


An article in the July issue of Business 2.0 stirred the pot, citing the concerns of some burners that, in inviting corporations to participate in the environmental exhibits, Burning Man -- which became a limited liability partnership 10 years ago and earned $10 million in revenue after last year's festival -- has sold out on its anti-commercial roots.


Harvey shrugged off the lawsuit and the articles. "Being perceived to be big, we encounter these things that we didn't in previous stages," Harvey said.


"We are not supping with the devil," he said. "We're not even brunching with the devil."


Yet Burning Man's Internet-based discussion boards lit up over the past year as burners bemoaned the organization's decision to work with corporations.


"What's it going to be like next year?" wrote one. "Will the area between the (Burning) Man and the Esplanade be filled with corporate booths?"


But where some see danger, Burning Man organizers see opportunity.


When a Silicon Valley venture capitalist donated an array of solar panels to help power part of the festival this year, Burning Man partnered with two Nevada counties to donate those panels, plus additional ones, to bring power to local schools, hospitals, and other public buildings.


After hearing about the project, about 40 local officials from other Nevada counties visited Burning Man to learn how they could implement similar projects in their communities.


"It's important for the Burning Man community to learn how to talk to the outside world, including the business community and government agencies, if we want to have impact beyond the orange trash fence," said festival spokeswoman Andie Grace, referring to the fence that surrounds the festival.


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