WTF is Burning Man?
Why would anyone want to do this?
It’s notoriously hard to describe, because it’s many things, and you can choose your own adventure:
An art museum that you bike through
1001 bars and clubs catering to every imaginable theme
A place where you can go to a naked pub crawl, a human car wash, a comedy club, a jazz lounge, a lecture on polyamory, a drone show, DJ lessons, and then go for a ride on a 3-story tall pirate ship on wheels all in the same day
A music festival with big name DJs and stadium-scale sound setups
A city with an airport and a post office
Extreme desert backpacking/camping
In short: 75,000 people build a huge 7-square-mile temporary city in the Nevada desert full of art, music, and events. Watch a deep dive here.
Burning Man has enormous cultural influence, especially in the Bay Area, where burning man camps such as Comfort & Joy, Glamcocks, Bad Asstronauts, and burner-affiliated promoters like Electroluxx effectively run the main gay nightlife scene outside of the Castro bars/clubs. They do year-round fundraiser parties for their camps, which are now a main focus of gay nightlife in SF.
One of the central tenets of the event is radical self expression, and many minority communities like ours flock there (artists, gays, furries). There are currently no pup camps, so this will be the first!
Is Burning Man a music festival?
Unlike a festival where you pay to see someone put on a show for you, everything that happens at burning man is there because a participant thought of it, brought it there, and built it.
There is no exchange of money or trade at Burning Man. Everything must be offered as a gift. Commercial branding, advertising, etc… are also prohibited.
What is a theme camp?
People organize into camps that share common infrastructure such as transportation, shelter, etc… Each camp is required to put on some sort of activity/offering that anyone going to Burning Man can participate in. For example, many camps offer a dance floor and a bar, but the best camps put on wildly creative events, serve food, build crazy art projects, etc…
It’s the craziest thing you’ll ever do. Camps range from super modest to multimillion-dollar spectacles. The event runs 24/7 for a whole week, and there’s something to do at any hour of the day/night. It’s the wildest exposition of creativity you’ll ever see. It’s also realistically rather difficult and expensive due to all the planning, prep, and equipment required. (Though we eventually plan to fundraise to offer sponsorships for low income members)
What makes it difficult?
You must bring your own food, shelter, water; and you must pack out all your own waste, leaving no trace behind. The only thing provided for you is porta potties. The desert is an unforgiving place with hot daytime and cold nighttime temperatures, and near-daily dust storms. You can mitigate some of the roughness by renting an RV, but this is $$$$$$$$$$ because the RV companies charge exorbitant prices knowing they’re going to come back trashed with dust; and RV toilet/shower systems don’t have the capacity to operate off-grid for more than a weekend. This acts as a filter for all but the people who really want to be there.
Can I afford it?
We hope to eventually fundraise towards sponsoring pups who can’t afford the full price, however this is a 2027+ goal, as we’ll need to spend a bunch on buying our first set of infrastructure. How much you spend depends on how much comfort you demand. If you get a low-income ticket from BMorg (requires an application; and they’ve never published the exact criteria) it’s possible to attend for around $1,000 all-in, but if you want to bring an RV, that quickly climbs. Here’s how much you can expect to spend:
Got more time than money? You can volunteer and potentially get that number down even further. Here’s a great video on going this route to do it cheaply.
Who is PLUR Pups for?
Glad you asked!
