Burning Man's in full force in northern Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. Reno Public Radio’s Marcus Lavergne reports that this year there are some significant changes on the playa:
Two big festival changes include the addition of CrowdRx as Burning Man’s new health care provider and the reduction of drone permits from 200 last year to just 30.
Jenny Kane is the Reno Gazette Journal’s Burning Man Reporter. She says the change that has sparked the most controversy among some “burners” is a new dance music area that has been pushed to the outskirts of Black Rock City.
“In years past," Kane says, "there have been noise complaints about increasingly loud and prolonged noise that you will hear on the playa from dance parties.”
Kane recently spoke to our public radio partner KNPR in Las Vegas, adding that change is nothing new for Burning Man:
“Some of the people can’t accept that change. Others truly do believe that burning man is on its last leg. But, I think if things always are evolving, hopefully burners will kind of dictate where they want it to go.”
Despite any naysayers, Burning Man drew about 66,000 people to the desert last year. Numbers are expected to be high once again.
