It is currently impossible for them to leave the site, located in the middle of the Nevada desert, in the United States. Tens of thousands of participants in the American alternative festival Burning Man were trapped on Saturday, September 2, at the festival site due to heavy rain. They transformed the place into a field of mud, and forced the organizers to cancel the program of festivities.
“The gates and airport of Black Rock City [site name] remain closed, all entry or exit delayed until further notice,” and vehicular access prohibited, the account has repeated at regular intervals since midnight. X (ex-Twitter) of the event, which began on August 27 and is due to end on Sunday. The organizers also invited participants already there to “conserve water, food and fuel and find a warm and safe shelter”.
Due to the heavy showers, “la playa”, a huge esplanade characteristic of the event, was made impassable. The majority of the planned activities have been suspended, including the burning of the wooden giant installed in the center of “la playa”, which traditionally marks the end of the festival and gives it its name.
Heavy rain expected again on Sunday
The authorities as well as the organizers have not yet declared when the entrance to the site could be accessible again or when the participants will be able to leave the site. But if the rains stopped during the day on Saturday, they should be back on Sunday, while temperatures overnight should drop to around 10°C, according to the organizers’ account.
The festival had faced an intense heat wave last year with strong winds which had already made the experience difficult for the “burners”, the name of the festival-goers.
Launched in 1986 in San Francisco, Burning Man aims to be an indefinable event, between celebration of the counter-culture and spiritual retreat. It has been held since the 1990s in the Black Rock Desert, a protected area in northwest Nevada, which the organizers are committed to preserving.
Initially held on a beach in San Francisco, Burning Man has become a structured festival, with a budget of nearly $45 million (2018 figures) and more than 75,000 participants in the last edition, down from the previous one in 2019.
