Rainfall turned roads and campsites into mud during the 2023 Burning Man gathering in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, complicating travel and prompting widespread attention. The festival, which began as a small San Francisco gathering in 1986, has since grown into a large annual arts and community event. A commentary published during the disruption examined the festival’s history and guiding principles and criticized its cultural influence. Those judgments are the commentator’s opinions rather than findings about the event itself.
