Markets at Burning Man

As a 5-time burner, I've always enjoyed the contrast between the orgy of purchasing that precedes arrival to the playa, and the commerce-celibate environment on the playa.<p>The fun starts at the costume shops of Haight street -- with BRC-themed displays for weeks before, and ever-more -frantic shoppers leading up to event kickoff (and even midweek for later arrivers). The CruiseAmerica RV rental place near Oakland Airport seems to be nonstop burners the kickoff weekend. (They probably bring in extra vehicles from around the country to meet the demand.)<p>As you snake up I-80, <i>every</i> highwayside REI, Target, and Wal-Mart between SF and Reno has evidence of burner purchasing. Wal-Marts have special front-of-store presentations of exactly the camper/raver/cycling/desert supplies burners need. And plenty of Home Depots, from SF to Reno, are filled with people buying building and art supplies.<p>And then: you reach the 'oasis' of no commerce at Black Rock. The contrast is beautiful; the experiment in intentional and temporary community is perception-altering, with lessons for the rest of the world.<p>But if you fail to notice that it's the wealth and specialization of a giant, competitive, cash-seeking economy that made it all possible, you're blind to the whole picture. Barter economies never invent EL wire and computer-controlled LED displays, among other things.

The line break between "Blow" and "Pop" made me think that this article was going in a totally different direction.

This post bothered me probably because going to Burning Man reinforced the side of me that wouldn't demand a free meal because of poor service.<p>Burning Man (at least for me) was a place where you would go with a big crazy project that you could never hope to accomplish. But somehow "the playa would provide" and people would come help you complete it. And "gifting" isn't about cheap trinkets or bartering. It's about giving your time and skills to people that could use it. I've helped repair an engine, build structures, painted a boat, clean up trash, and more. People have fed me, taken care of me while dehydrated, given me rides, bought my ticket, etc.<p>In some ways, it's helped me be more adventurous with creating a business. Sometimes you need to take that leap of faith that resources will show up.<p>I came back the first time and literally cried at seeing all of the trash barrels overflowing in my home town on garbage day. (EDIT: I live 2500 miles away.) I also spent months researching all sorts of things I was excited by as a boy. Lots of people go to Burning Man to "rage" and take lots of drugs and go wild. But there are lots of others that create things and share them with people that create things too.

To some extent it's important to remember that Burners tend to be richer on average and on vacation (it's a little like a university campus that way, it's just more priviledged than average).<p>I think the real reason it works so well, is there are huge numbers of people who go there because they have an insatiable desire to build things, (both physically and in terms of a community) and making your neighbour's burn better makes yours better.

ESR wrote a little about gift economies in either The Cathedral and the Bazaar or one of its sequels, IIRC. I think the gist was that if resources are abundant, a person's status becomes determined more by what they give away than by what they own.<p>This doesn't sound quite the same, but similar. As one of the commenters points out, the economy is self-selecting, which helps.