Burning Man: Bigger and better?

Burning Man just finished up its 22nd year of art, free love and self-expression in the desert about 100 miles north of Reno, Nev. The event started in 1986 when friends Larry Harvey and Jerry James burned an 8-foot wooden man on Baker Beach in San Francisco. Burning Man remained free for years, and eventually moved to Black Rock Desert in Nevada. Nowadays, tickets for the weeklong event will run you in the neighborhood of $300. But it hasn’t hurt attendance, which hit nearly 50,000 participants this year, who braved sandstorms to watch the 40-foot Man get his burn on.

Year        Attendance

1986         20
1987         80
1988         150-200
1989         300+
1990         800
1991         250 (first year at Black Rock City)
1992         600
1993         1,000
1994         2,000
1995         4,000
1996         8,000
1997         10,000
1998         15,000
1999         23,000
2000         25,400
2001         25,659
2002         28,979
2003         30,586
2004         35,664
2005         35,567
2006         38,989
2007         47,097
2008         49,599