Burning Man Festival, 2023

For those not in the “know,” Burning Man is held yearly in the Black Rock Desert in northwestern Nevada, usually the last Sunday of August through the first Monday in September. So many people show up for this, that Gerlach, the little town just outside of the Black Rock Desert, is transformed from a sleepy little stop between destinations, to a bustling thoroughfare. Tens of thousands of people attend, and I might add, tickets at over $500 to almost $3,000, are sold out yearly. The otherwise barren playa is transformed almost overnight to a pop-up city aptly named, “Black Rock City,” and “Burners” travel from all over the world to attend. It is truly an experience!

Just in case you don’t know, there is only one way into this event.

This year, protesters claiming to be activists, showed up to block the only way in.

According to news media reports, the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal police arrived on scene and plowed through the barricade “debris” and arrested the protestors.

I want to commend the rangers.

Protestors have their moments of glory, but when it impedes on the freedoms of others, well, they should take as good as they give. I can tell you, if I paid almost $3,000 to attend a three-day-event, I probably would have done the plowing myself! I’m cheering the fact that tribal police stepped in and saved those protestors’ lives by removing them from the scene, whereby allowing the thousands of vehicles to continue their journey into the festival they paid good money for.

I want to commend the Paiute Tribal Police and send them a Starbucks card or some such token for doing the right thing and arresting these people, but Gerlach does not offer such amenities, even at this bustling time of year.