Burning Man festival burns its 60-foot man
BLACK ROCK CITY, Nev. — This festival's eponymous Burning Man did just that on Saturday night as 70,000 people in the Nevada desert said farewell to days of dust and freewheeling living.
Cheers and screams echoed across this land normally devoid of nearly all life as Burning Man's 60-foot "Man" burned to the ground with a little help from his friends: fireworks and explosions.
For the past week, people from around the world have made the annual pilgrimage to build the event's temporary city far from civilization, and to close it out by burning artwork and related paraphernalia.
The burning of the “Man” Saturday night was followed by a ceremony led by fire dancers as festival attendees crowded around.
The festival concludes Sunday with the burning of the Temple of Remembrance, although thousands of attendees are already flooding out of the city and back toward showers and Internet service.
The mass exodus is expected to continue through at least Monday morning.
Burning Man was started in 1986 on a San Francisco beach and moved to the Nevada desert in 1990.