Burning Man: Bigger and better?
Burning Man just finished up its 22nd year of art, free love and self-expression in the desert about 100 miles north of Reno, Nev. The event started in 1986 when friends Larry Harvey and Jerry James burned an 8-foot wooden man on Baker Beach in San Francisco. Burning Man remained free for years, and eventually moved to Black Rock Desert in Nevada. Nowadays, tickets for the weeklong event will run you in the neighborhood of $300. But it hasn’t hurt attendance, which hit nearly 50,000 participants this year, who braved sandstorms to watch the 40-foot Man get his burn on.
Year Attendance
1986 20
1987 80
1988 150-200
1989 300+
1990 800
1991 250 (first year at Black Rock City)
1992 600
1993 1,000
1994 2,000
1995 4,000
1996 8,000
1997 10,000
1998 15,000
1999 23,000
2000 25,400
2001 25,659
2002 28,979
2003 30,586
2004 35,664
2005 35,567
2006 38,989
2007 47,097
2008 49,599