Latest news USA: Burning Man attracts tens of thousands to the Black Rock Desert
The legendary desert festival Burning Man in the US state of Nevada is opening its doors to tens of thousands of visitors. From Sunday (August 25) until the Labor Day holiday (September 2), around 70,000 "burners" are expected on a dried-up salt lake in the Black Rock Desert.
25.08.2024, 20:29
SDA
The week-long scene happening with music and art events traditionally attracts artists, techno fans, pyrotechnicians and curious people from all over the world. In the desert, participants erect a temporary city called Black Rock City out of tents and mobile homes. A core ritual at the end of the event is the burning of the Burning Man, an oversized wooden statue.
This year's motto is "Curiouser & Curiouser", based on a quote from the classic children's book "Alice in Wonderland" about a curious girl in a wonderland.
Last year, heavy rainfall turned the area on the dried-up lake into a swamp of thick mud. Cars threatened to get stuck, and for days only emergency vehicles were allowed to enter or leave the site. Tens of thousands were stranded for days at the end of the festival after the organizers closed the access road in the remote region. Some visitors walked for miles through the viscous mud to reach roads outside the site and get home from there.
The year before, temperatures in the usually dry region soared to around 40 degrees Celsius during the event. The weather forecast for this week predicts sunshine and temperatures of up to 33 degrees Celsius.
US artist Larry Harvey (1948 - 2018) was one of the co-founders of the initially small happening on a beach in San Francisco in 1986. After growing in popularity, the event was moved to the Nevada desert in 1990.
