Many Albertans are slowly heading back north across the Canadian border and returning home after a long, wet and muddy weekend in the Nevada desert.
Officials say about an inch of rain fell on attendees during the Burning Man festival in the Black Rock Desert, located about three hours north of Reno.
“It would come and go, dried up once, and then the last few days was nothing but rain and mud,” says Calgary’s Trish Wilson.
Wilson returned home Sunday to send her kids off to school after spending the previous few days ankle-deep in mud. Her husband and some members of their group stayed behind to watch the burning of The Man and to tear down the camp.
She says despite officials calling for a shelter in place, and a wet and muddy mess, spirits amongst most attendees stayed dry.
“Nothing but smiles, and laughter, and playfulness and just surviving,” she says.
The festival first-timer says Burning Man is known to be a community that takes care of one another. She even told Global News about an instance where their group accepted a passerby into their camp until a dust storm settled.
She adds the group’s only concern as the rain fell was keeping the power on and if there was enough food to go around.
“There was not one person that would have gone without. If one person was stranded because of a dust storm, we took them into our camp until the storm ended and then they carried on their way,” she says.
Aleks Samarzija’s plane landed at Calgary International Airport Tuesday afternoon after attending his fifth Burning Man festival.
However, his bags coming home were a little lighter than they were when he left for the United States, leaving anything muddy behind in the desert.
“The mud was a little difficult to get through,” he says.
“But you know what, we put some garbage bags on our feet, tied it up with duct tape and had a blast. The mud didn’t stop us from enjoying our burn.”
On Tuesday, the mass exodus continued as thousands of festival-goers, including Lethbridge’s Sabrina Burrows, made the long trek home.
This year’s festival was Burrows’ first time, however she has attended regional Burning Man festivals including the Freezer Burn in the Parkland region of Central Alberta.
She believes when it comes to attending outdoor festivals like Burning Man, experience and preparedness play an important role, referring to the campers next to their site who had to leave early after their site flooded.
“And that’s understandable. like if your supplies are ruined and you don’t have the things to stay, you’re gonna have to go but for anyone who was prepared and kinda had an idea of what to expect we all had a great time and we made do with what there was,” says Burrows.
All three Albertans say despite the cold, wet and muddy conditions, they’re ready to do it all again next year.
However, given this year’s excitement, Samarzjia says it may be tough.
“The rain didn’t stop us; we had a fantastic time. I think people will be talking about it, bet you won’t be able to get a ticket next year,” he says.
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