Burning Man 2010: Where Will You Live in the Metropolis? What’s Your BRC Address?

If we were going to the Metropolis of Burning Man, Black Rock City Nevada, with our family this year, where we’d camp would be a no brainer: KIDSVILLE! That’s the village at Burning Man with over 600 occupants, a village where every camp has at least one child, and where we stayed in 2009 and 2007.

Kids at Burning Man? Why of course! What would a Metropolis be without children? I remember meeting and talkin with Larry Harvey’s young son in the early years of Burning Man, and my first year, back in 1992, my friend DeeDee brought her tweenager and he and I went out to the rave together. Believe it or not, kids have always been a part of Burning Man.

And Kidsville really is Burning Man at its best for kids of all ages: Art Cars swing by to pick up riders for family friendly tours of the Playa, people bring games and lead them, lots of trampoline scattered about, shade structures with legos galore, and more–even a mini-ThunderDome set up for bouts between kids!

Kidsville is “free” in the sense there’s no additional cost to join the camp: while some camps ask for “hefty donations” to cover shared expenses like food and booze, art and infrastructure, Kidsville operates on totally voluntary donations. Kidsville is organized in the sense that Lora volunteers to draw up a map and take charge of who goes where. People donate what and as they can.

As more and more Burners are having little Burners, Kidsville has been PACKED the past few years. So unless you’ve got a spot, your best bet if you have kids, is to camp nearby in open real estate. Kidsville is THE largest village at Burning Man!

Before Kidsville, I stayed in Hushville, where no generators are allowed, making it another uber-popular place to camp. Hushville also has little or no infrastructure. However, like Kidsville, if you show up wanting to camp there, expect that it too is probably already “full.”

That’s right, while Burning Man takes place in a huge desert, the Black Rock, Black Rock City has limits, and the prime real estate goes FAST.

So where should you camp? One tip is to check out this link for Theme Camp Placement:

http://jes5199. com/burningman20 10/

That’s where the image above came from, and that’s where you’ll find the information, addresses, and links for the various “Theme Camps”. If a nearby theme camp looks like fun, or LOUD, you can make a decision. You will spending A LOT of your time in your neighborhood!

Last but not least: what’s your BRC address? Even if you’re a newbie, you probably already know that the city is usually organized by rings alphabetically and by time. This year, the streets A-F are the names of big cities: Athen, Bagdad, Cairo…Your address is a combination of your street and your time. (Yes, lots of people want to camp at 4:20…)

What’s the benefit of having an address figured out in advance? You can tell your BRC friends where to find you and you can tell your default world friends where to send you mail–if you bring a mailbox, that is!

Wish I was going…send my regards to the Temple, please. I think my mother is hanging out there this year. Send her my love, please.