Torching of 'Burning Man' brings festival to a close

GERLACH, Nev. - About 14,000 free spirits from across the country danced and celebrated under a full moon as an anything-goes, counterculture festival ended on the Northern Nevada desert.

The annual Burning Man ceremony concluded Sunday night with the spectacular torching of a 50-foot-tall wooden statue of a man and a fireworks display that lit up the barren landscape for miles.

Participants, many of them wearing colorful costumes and others wearing nothing, took part in a giant dance around the ashes of the wooden statue afterward.

A woman from the San Francisco Bay area who identified herself "Playa Naiya" said the gathering on the Black Rock Desert, 120 miles north of Reno, was a tribute to a "radical self expression."

"External society makes you want to conform to fit in, " said Naiya, who along with her boyfriend was only dressed in a thin coat of silver paint. "Society is fearful of the unknown, and my grandmother wouldn't understand this, but out here you can be who you want."

Participants camped in a communal tent city, beat drums, painted their bodies and danced at Pagan fire rituals. Dancers, jugglers and musicians worked on collective art projects. Clothing was optional and drugs were acceptable.

"It's an event where people are allowed to use art to express themselves without being censored in any way, " said Dan Macchiarina, a San Francisco artist in attendance. "It encourages people to participate and I love it."

The burning of the wooden statue began in 1986 when festival founder Larry Harvey built a man representing his girlfriend's new love and torched it on a San Francisco beach.

The event was moved to Nevada's Black Rock Desert in 1991 as the annual bonfire drew increasingly large crowds.

Once the Burning Man burned, artists piled up their works and set them on fire as well.

Going up in flames was a sculpture titled "Burning Manilow," which was featured nightly at the Lounge Lizard Cabaret. Performers torched pictures of pop star Barry Manilow while playing his hits, such as "Mandy" and "Copacabana."

This year's festival drew participants from all 50 states and more than 200 reporters from around the world, all of whom had to pay a $100 cover charge.

Law enforcement authorities reported few major problems for a second straight year.

Nine participants were arrested, all but one on drug charges. More than 10 other participants were taken to Reno hospitals after suffering drug overdoses.

Another participant remains in a coma at a Reno hospital after suffering serious injuries in a head-on collision near the festival entrance. Three others were injured in the same accident.

Police beefed up their presence at the annual Labor Day weekend event after a rash of problems at the 1996 gathering.

Three people were injured, one critically, when a drunken driver slammed into their tent. A motorcyclist was killed in a head-on collision with a van.

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