1 in 1 vehicles leave the Burning Man festival in the United States after rain isolated the site Photo: Matt Mills McKnight/Portal Vehicles leave the Burning Man festival in the United States after rain isolated the site Photo: Matt Mills McKnight/Portal
Thousands of Burning Man participants began their “exodus” across the United States this Monday (4) as the counterculture arts festival in the Nevada desert ended the 2023 edition in a sea of mud.
Organizers said online that they hoped to officially allow vehicles to leave at midday local time on Monday, but some participants told Portal that a steady stream of vehicles had been leaving since dawn.
According to the American news channel CNN, the streets have been opened by the organizers.
The exit is via an 8 km long unpaved gravel road to the nearest motorway. Photos shared on websites showed rugged recreational vehicles stuck up to their tire rims in mud, with some using boards under their wheels to gain traction.
The festival is about 15 miles from the nearest city and more than 100 miles north of Reno.
Organizers asked those who were able to postpone departure until Tuesday morning to reduce traffic.
For days, around 70,000 people were forced to stay where they were and conserve food and water while authorities closed roads and exits and ordered all vehicles to remain stopped.
But meteorologists with the National Weather Service said Monday that the rain was over.
Some festivalgoers ignored orders to stay put throughout the weekend and attempted to walk or drive to the highway. Others continued the party even in the rain.
Videos posted on social media showed costumed revelers including some children sliding through sticky mud, most covered head to toe in wet earth.
Each year, Burning Man attracts tens of thousands of people to the Nevada desert to dance, make art and enjoy being part of a temporary, selfsufficient community of likeminded spirits. This year’s version opened on August 27 and was scheduled to run until Monday.
The festival began in 1986 as a small gathering on a beach in San Francisco, California, and is now attended by celebrities and social media influencers. A regular ticket costs $575.
Normally the penultimate evening is dedicated to a farewell event in which a huge effigy of a man is burned, accompanied by fireworks, which did not take place this year. However, organizers said this could still happen on Monday night.