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Burning Man: A slice of Georgetown in the desert

Updated: 2 days ago

An attendee on a bicycle at Burning Man 2025, silhouetted against the sunrise.
Moments of magic among the hardships

RENO, Nev. (September 1, 2025) ꟷ Last night my partner Will and I landed in Reno dusty and exhausted after five days at Burning Man. This year was my fifth burn, although the last time I went was in 2011 when I was a spry 37-year-old.


This year, at age 51, the heat just about killed me. We came prepared with an air conditioning unit we installed in our tent, but our camp’s main generator failed on our second day there. Lesson learned: Bring your own back-up generator.


That’s Burning Man in a nutshell, though. What can go wrong probably will, but here’s the thing: You find in yourself a resilience and ingenuity that we generally don’t get to experience from ourselves in our day-to-day lives. Your soul is lifted as you witness people coming together to build, help, solve problems and support each other. And the sheer scale of art and creativity is truly beyond.


A hot air balloon lifting at sunrise with art cars below it at Burning Man 2025
A hot air balloon lifts at sunrise

It reminds me a little of Georgetown: We build, create, and innovate. We support each other with everything from a stick of butter at a crucial baking moment to co-creating events like Georgetown Pride. We make artꟷlots and lots of artꟷand offer it generously at roundabouts, galleries and even on telephone poles. It’s no coincidence that so many burners call our neighborhood home, and I can’t wait to get back.




4 Comments

Ariel van Spronsen
2 days ago

Hello @orguy99, thanks for your comment. You bring up a topic that definitely merits discussion, and I’m glad you’re sparking it.

I’m no Burning Man apologist, but I would argue that consumerism and environmental impact (word choice intentional) are unfortunate side effects of the event, rather than things it celebrates.

Every year I’ve attended it’s been hard to witness the effects of some attendees’ wanton disregard for the 10 principles upon which the event is founded. This year was no different, my favorite example being the ripe deuce someone had carefully deposited behind the toilet seat.

But that’s some attendees. Not all. And honestly, not the majority.

(As a counterpoint to that porta potty experience, I offer this…

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orguy99
a day ago
Replying to

Thanks for the language correction!


Either way, you're contributing to environmental destruction, even if you've buried your head in the gentrified, playa mud in an effort to overlook your own additions to a decimated landscape. That said, this has no place on a blog of community events.


While I'm sure the urge to tell everyone you encounter that you're a "burner" is incredibly strong, it doesn't seem to adhere to the actual purpose of the blog.


"Is it useful, informative, helpful, or entertaining to a majority of the neighborhood? Then we'll likely publish it. Does it narrowly serve the needs of a single business interest, individual, or political group? Then we probably won't publish it."

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orguy99
4 days ago

Oh my God, they just let everyone post drivel here?


Burning Man is a celebration of vapid consumerism and environmental destruction, and you're an awful person for going and celebrating it.

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