What is Burning Man?
[[File:Burning Man 2011 Victor Grigas Man Burn IMG 4774.JPG|thumb|right|250px|The Burning Man, just before it is lit on fire.]] '''Burning Man''' is a [[festival]] that happens every year at [[Black Rock Desert]] in northern [[Nevada]], in the [[United States]]. It lasts a week, and it starts on the last Monday in August, and ends on the first Monday in September (which is also [[Labor Day]] in the U.S.). The festival is called Burning Man because a large wood [[sculpture]] of a man is set on fire on Saturday. The festival has been happening every year since 1990. Many people go to Burning Man; in 2012, over 55,000 people were there. The Black Rock [[desert]] is far from any cities or towns, and is very dry, so people who go to Burning Man have to bring their own water, food, and [[shelter]]. ==History== Burning Man started in 1986 in [[San Francisco]]. An [[artist]] named [[Larry Harvey]] made a {{convert|9|ft|m|adj=mid|tall}} wooden [[sculpture]] of a man, and decided to burn it at a nearby beach as a [[bonfire]] for [[Summer Solstice]]. It was a success, so he did it again at the beach the next year, and then again a couple years after that. Each year the sculpture was made bigger. In 1987 “the Man” was almost {{convert|15|ft}} tall, and in 1989 it was almost {{convert|40|ft}} tall.<ref name=doherty>{{cite book |last = Doherty |first = Brian |title = This Is Burning Man |url = https://archive.org/details/thisisburningman0000dohe |publisher = Benbella Books |year = 2006 | isbn = 978-1-932100-86-0}}</ref> In 1990, the police stopped Harvey from burning the Man because Harvey did not have a [[permit]]. Around the same time, two people named Kevin Evans and John Law were planning a group trip to a dry lake, called The Playa, in the Black Rock Desert. They were members of a group of [[Dada|Dadaist]]s named the Cacophony Society. Harvey decided to take the sculpture, which had been taken apart, to the desert to be burned. Since that time the festival has happened in the desert. John Law knew how to make [[neon