Counter-culture Burning Man suffers growing pains

By E.B. Boyd

BLACK ROCK DESERT, Nevada (Reuters) - Erika stood in torn fishnet stockings, shorts leaving little to the imagination, examining an exhibit on electric cars set up in the middle of the Nevada desert at the countercultural Burning Man festival.

"I dig the message," said Erika, 26, who did not give her last name. "But I'm not into how it's presented. It looks like a car show."

The exhibit showcased alternative energy technologies but even the increasingly popular theme sparked some criticism as a betrayal of the festival's opposition to commercialization.

The divide among festival goers in a week-long event where corporate logos are banned was emblematic of the growing pains Burning Man is experiencing as it becomes larger and more influential.

What started as a series of small bonfire parties on a beach in San Francisco 21 years ago is now a massive, week-long revel, culminating on Labor Day weekend in the Nevada desert 107 miles north of Reno.

The growing pains were evident last Tuesday when one attendee set fire to the festival's emblematic Burning Man, which had been due to go up in flames on Saturday. The accused arsonist was apparently motivated by a desire to inject more spontaneity into the event.

For all of the improvised elements to the Burning Man festival, some things are planned.

The Burning Man organization sets up street grids to delineate campsites, portable bathrooms and a list of ten principles the organization encourages "burners" to live by, including radical self-expression, civic responsibility and participation.

Visitors bring everything else, most notably works of art, wild costumes and fanciful vehicles dressed up to look like everything from pink cats to sailing ships.

Many groups set up bars, lounges and dance parties; others create restaurants. There are also cabarets, mini-golf courses, tea houses, workshops, lectures and yoga classes.

In accordance with one of the festival's ten principles, no financial transactions are permitted. All entertainment must be provided for free.

More than 45,000 people from around the world have attended this year, up from almost 40,000 last year, officials said.

CO-FOUNDS FEUD

In January, Burning Man co-founder, John Law, who severed his involvement with the festival a decade ago, sued the other two co-founders including current impresario Larry Harvey.

Law demanded they relinquish control of the Burning Man service mark and logo and release them into the public domain for anyone to use.