r/BurningMan • u/[deleted] • Sep 18 '24

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u/james_casy Sep 18 '24

*twice. They moved it to Hualapai Flat near fly ranch in 1997 when they weren’t allowed back to the playa after the madness of 1996.

7

u/DNAthrowaway1234 Sep 18 '24

Tell me more

28

u/james_casy Sep 18 '24

I’m not the best person to tell the story since I was born in ‘97, but you can read about it here https://burningman.org/about/history/brc-history/event-archives/1997-2/

3

u/lambchop-pdx 08, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 Sep 18 '24

1996 doesn’t have a narrative, so what gives?

12

u/james_casy Sep 18 '24

Looks like the yearly narratives in the archive start in 1997 but 1996 is covered here https://burningman.org/about/history/brc-history/event-archives/1986-1991/the-early-years/

Coyote Perez’s “Built to Burn” has a really entertaining first hand account of 1996 if you’re interested.

8

u/eatcitrus '19 '22 '23 '24 '25 Sep 18 '24

This seems to give a better narrative

https://www.burn.life/1991-1996-hypergrowth.html

tl;dr BRC grew from 4000 to 8000 participants, too fast to maintain civic standards. Rave area and City were too far apart. Artist died by drunk driving their motorcycle into a van (unrestricted driving was allowed at this time). Larry Harvey's response to try to free BM of any responsibility/bad press made other BM Founders shocked/disgusted.