Thanks for the extensive writeup, and if I understand you correctly, there’s more or less way too much momentum of various kinds for any group in particular to call the event off even knowing that harsh weather was about to hit.

Think of it this way: BLM controls when you can enter or leave the city, so if you’re there and the gate is closed, you aren’t leaving anyway until it opens.

Even if you’re just going to go and have no idea what you’re going to do, just as a solo camper, you’re probably going to want to start planning for your trip a year in advance. Tents don’t work so well on the desert (they get stupid hot), but building a monkeyhut shade structure helps! Or a hexayurt, or a geodesic dome. Once you arrive you can’t drive anywhere, so is your bike in good working condition with big fat tires? Do you have a bike repair kit handy if it’s not? What are you going to wear?! It gets stupid cold at night and stupid hot during the day. How are you going to transport all of this stuff, plus all of the water you will need to bring… should you just rent an RV? Or can your car pull a trailer? How are you going to be seen at night… do you have lights? The ticket itself costs $300+ and sells out nearly instantly, are you ready? Did you consult your list of things you wish you brought last year but didn’t and plan to bring this year? etc…

It’s usually so much of an event for all those involved that they would go anyway even if the event were cancelled.

So if you’re a participant you can acknowledge that this year’s event kind of sucked, but that it was still worth it on the whole. Do I have that right?

If the weather was “perfect” the burn could still suck because of any one or more of the following:

• you forgot stuff
• you got hangry and blew up at law enforcement
• you didn’t take the 5mph speed limit seriously and now law enforcement has dumped all of your stuff on the ground, searching for the drugs you do not have. Or that you did have and now you’ve got a new set of problems.
• you lost your favorite _____
• daft punk was not actually playing at the trash fence :(
• you and your partner had a falling out. this happens a lot. burning man is a test of couples, among other things.
• that hot girl you had sex with is an undercover cop.
• you decided smoked weed on the playa at night and a cop with night vision goggles drives out to you on his atv and arrests you.
• the guy who offered to sell you drugs on the art car was a cop, and the art car is owned by law enforcement.
• you drank too much free booze and didn’t drink enough water, someone dropped you off to the medical tent in the morning and they started fluid injections to rehydrate you. They put 4 bags in you and that’s the limit, you’re going to reno now… you are airlifted to Reno, which is about an hour’s drive away. You recover in the hospital for the rest of the event.
• You fell off an artcar and broke your arm.
• A stage structure failed and there 10 people needed medical attention. You witnessed it and now you need to talk to someone about it.
• You tried to find a date at the orgy dome but no one was interested.

But then there’s the magical parts of burning man, which by and large are the people and humanity and all of the wonderful creations of humanity, on display. It’s something everyone should consider trying once, but you could also seek out smaller “regional” burning man events, which have a very similar vibe as the big burn but are more local and are still a lot of fun.

One other thing-- I notice some people calling the event a ‘rich person’s event,’ as if to imply the whole thing is frivolous, and that it’s of no consequence that this one was ‘rained out.’ Thoughts?

They’re right, and they’re wrong to an extent. Consider what I’ve posted so far in terms of the things a participant needs to deal with just to survive and enjoy themselves. Now imagine how much easier that would be if you could just show up with a plane ticket and already have a camp with a room waiting for you? This is called “plug and play” camping and it’s something that arguably ruins burning man for a lot of folks. As a participant, you’re just walking by these large blocks of land with gates and lots of RVs inside, sometimes with security. Travel agencies have been caught selling packages like this, and it’s not something that’s sanctioned by the event, but it’s also not something that fits outside of their terms and conditions.

Artists can apply for grants for art for the event through the organization, but aside from what’s given for art, a lot of the event comes from individual camps. Individual camps that bring large sound systems and large stages, build huge art cars with large sound systems, lasers, led and EL wire lighting, fire, etc… All of that costs money.

The ticket itself costs $300 but considering gas and everything else you would need, you should budget at least $1000. You’ll also need to be somewhere in life that you can take that much time off work, and your job may not allow for that.

The last year I went, someone tested the idea of “the playa provides” and arrived at the event naked, without a ticket. He somehow got a ticket, and I imagine he was probably fine for the rest of the event but didn’t hear more about that. So, cost of burning man for the bold and stupid: $0?

So yes, having money helps, as does with any kind of travel. Having toys at burning man really requires money. Some rich folks make burning man what it is because of the gifts they give in the way of large sound camps, art installations or fun things to do. Some rich folks fly in to reno, take a bus to BRC and stay in basically a hotel for the week on playa. But to say everyone is rich is just wrong.