SFGATE editor Ashley Harrell interviewed Burners about the event’s biggest misconceptions

Marlowe Bassett of Metamorphosis Ballet at Burning Man 2022 in Nevada.Jane Hu

By Ashley Harrell,California Parks Contributing Editor

Aug 27, 2024 (SFGate.com)

BLACK ROCK CITY, Nev. — Before I went to Burning Man, I used to think I was not a person who would enjoy Burning Man.

I am the type who likes camping in nature and exploring wild places where I know I’ll run into almost no other humans. But overnighting for a week in a pop-up desert city where there are orgies and loud music at all hours, where people seemingly needed to be social at all times — no thanks! I imagined I’d need to be intoxicated for nearly the entire time to avoid getting anxious and judgy, and I was already exhausted just thinking about it.

Furthermore, in my 20s, I lived in San Francisco for years and was always creeped out when all the dust-ravaged Burners returned from the festival wearing their steampunk accessories, recounting their transformative experiences and blathering incoherently about how “the playa provides.” I did not want to look or sound like those people. So in 2016, when a former boyfriend asked me to go, and I reluctantly agreed, it seemed like chances were high that it would be a disaster.

Eight years later, I’m writing this from the playa, on my fifth burn. I almost certainly look and sound like all the other manic, dehydrated, filthy proselytizers, and it feels fantastic. I’m still amazed about how wrong I was previously about what this place is like and how many things non-Burners continue to get wrong about Black Rock City. So I went around asking Burners this year about the misconceptions they’ve also encountered about the event. Here’s what they said.

Nine-time Burner Dylan Hart (playa name: Dirty Wolf) photographed on the playa on Aug. 27, 2024. Ashley Harrell/SFGATE

The playa operates on a barter economy

“People think the gifting culture is not about gifting but about trading. That’s the most consistent one that I’m like, you guys are so off-base. They think that if I give you something, I need something else in my pocket to give you back. It was explained to me by a veteran Burner before I came — because it was a misconception I’d had as well — so it was explained to me that if anybody expects when they give you a gift anything more than a hug back, then they don’t understand the concept. And so for me, gifting is such a key feature to what we do out here, so that would be the one I would like the outside world to understand a little bit more.”

— Dylan Hart (playa name: Dirty Wolf), nine-time Burner

Erin Douglas (playa name: Founder) is the creator of Black! Asé, an art piece that calls to mind a barber shop, where men can reflect, heal and connect with themselves and others.Ashley Harrell/SFGATE

All Burners do is party

“There’s a misconception that [Burning Man] is mostly about partying, you know, going crazy, and that it’s relatable to other festivals. The reality is that it’s so much deeper than that. It can be all of those things. It can be none of those things. There’s something for everyone. And a lot of times, the playa meets you where you are and gives you what you need, and you don’t always know what that is. And so that could be parties. It could be being by yourself. It could be so many things.”

— Erin Douglas (playa name: Founder), artist

Charis Mills, a first-time burner from England, is photographed on the playa on Aug. 26, 2024. Ashley Harrell/SFGATE

“People think it’s just a place to party. I mean, yes, there are drugs. Yes, people are going to have sex. If that is why you come here, good for you. People are very judgmental about why people come here, but actually, you can come for any reason you want.”

— Charis Mills, first-time burner from England

Longtime burner Frank Binney (playa name: Riptide). Ashley Harrell/SFGATE

Burning Man is only for the young and beautiful

“Many people wrongly assume you have to be young, beautiful and a devotee of electronic dance music to enjoy Burning Man. In reality, the event offers positive experiences to people of all ages and walks of life. I didn’t start Burning until I was on Medicare. I keep coming back because of the amazing art and all the remarkable people I meet from all over the world.”

— Frank Binney (playa name: Riptide), longtime burner

Aaron and Karen Pugmire, who have attended Burning Man twice with their kids, are photographed with their 5-year-old and 3-year-old on the playa on Aug. 27, 2024. Ashley Harrell/SFGATE

Bringing kids is a terrible idea

“People always say, oh, [Burning Man] is so logistically difficult. It’s so hard to do. So why would you bring your kids? But when you’re a parent, everything’s hard to do. If you aren’t going to do hard things, you aren’t going to do anything. … This is actually the best place for kids.”

— Aaron Pugmire, attending Burning Man for the second time with partner Karen Pugmire (playa name: Skittles) and their 5-year-old and 3-year-old

“People think there’s a lot of things happening that kids shouldn’t see, which just isn’t true. Human beings like to do special, private things in private.”

— Karen Pugmire

Andre Williams (playa name: Dre) is the founder of Camp Cosmic Giggle. Ashley Harrell/SFGATE

Burning Man is a vacation

“I think that people think that it’s some sort of vacation. … But you have to bring your water, you have to manage how you’re going to sleep, how you’re going to dress, be prepared for the weather, etc. And I think people gloss that over. … The truth is that it’s a festival of people who choose to work in an unconventional way towards a payoff.

“If you go there and you’re not doing any work, but you’re simply running around, if you’re being a spectator and you’re not actually involved in providing any actual energy to what people are trying to create, then it can see very empty and you can feel very on the outside of what everyone is so blissed out about. But the second you put on some work gloves, or you help out someone, or you participate, you kind of get it.

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“… There’s a saying that you get the burn you deserve, not the burn you want. … You have to sort of be comfortable that you will be challenged for being who you are. And there’s no easy street where everyone is just like love and rainbows. That’s just been my experience as a longtime Black Burner.”

— Andre Williams (playa name: Dre), founder of Camp Cosmic Giggle

Adria Adams, a six-time Burner and camp member at Burning Sky, was photographed on the playa on Aug. 27, 2024. Ashley Harrell/SFGATE

You can skydive into Burning Man for free

“No, you cannot skydive into Burning Man for free. Not only do you have to buy a ticket, but you also have to buy a slot in order to be able to skydive and then meet all the other skydiving requirements in order to be able to do it. You have to have at least 150 jumps. You have to be current on your equipment. You have to have at least 50 jumps in the last 12 months.”

— Adria Adams, six-time Burner and camp member at Burning Sky (the skydiver camp)

Adrienne Romo, a first-time burner from Texas, was photographed with her son Anthony Soueid on the playa on Aug. 26, 2024. Ashley Harrell/SFGATE

The lines are always terrible

“That didn’t happen to us! We had seen on the news in previous years that the lines were long, with eight lanes of traffic! But we came [Monday] night and got in pretty quick.”

— Adrienne Romo, first-time burner from Texas who came with her son, Anthony Soueid

Karina O’Connor (playa name: Lorax) is the manager of the Earth Guardians, which educates and cheerleads the “leave no trace” ethos of Burning Man. Ashley Harrell/SFGATE

There’s nothing alive on the playa

“There is very much something alive here, and there are a lot of things that are alive on the edges of the Black Rock Desert. The fairy shrimp are real, and they can be big. They come out in the winter, when the whole playa is covered with water, typically. It basically rehydrates the fairy shrimp, and they come up, and you can go out and find them. I didn’t see any myself last year [when the playa became a mud pit], but I suppose it is possible that someone did.”

— Karina O’Connor (playa name: Lorax), manager of the Earth Guardians

Reporting contributed by Timothy Karoff

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Aug 27, 2024

Ashley Harrell

CALIFORNIA PARKS CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Ashley Harrell is a contributing editor covering California’s parks for SFGATE, where she’s worked since 2020. For the past nine years, she’s also worked as a freelance writer for Lonely Planet, reporting from 17 countries and co-authoring more than 50 travel guidebooks. Her story about tribal members protecting Yosemite National Park from wildfire won an SF Press Club award in 2021, and her story about wolf-rancher conflicts in northeastern California was listed as “notable” in the Best American Science and Nature Writing in 2022. Send story tips or comments to ashley.harrell@sfgate.com.