Festival attendees flock to Burning Man festival in northern Nevada

WASHOE COUNTY (KTNV) — The gates are officially open as festival attendees flock to northern Nevada for the Burning Man Festival.

The Hurricane Hilary storm system swept through the area with heavy rain and flooded the playa last weekend. That led to organizers asking attendees to delay their arrival until the site dried out.

Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam said festivalgoers spread out across the Reno area for a few days waiting to head to the festival to set up camp. He adds you can definitely tell when the event is back in town.

"A lof of individuals bring their RVs so they're rolling through where, typically, you wouldn't see them. If they have family members here or friends, they may be in the neighborhoods," Balaam told our ABC affiliate in Reno. "That playa dust is very fine and when it's wet, it's like glue. So unfortunately, when they come back, they'll go to the nearest dumpsters and dump their trash. That's the biggest negative impact we see."

The gates were closed on Monday and Tuesday. However, event organizers said temporary gate closures aren't abnormal.

"In this case, we're thankful the rain took place early during set up and isn't affecting too many folks and that our teams already in Black Rock City are safe," organizers said in a statement.

The gates reopened on Wednesday. There are still major traffic jams as people begin to arrive on-site. As of Friday at 8 p.m., the line to enter the grounds was two and a half hours long.

The festival began in 1986 when Larry Harvey and his friend Jerry James made a wooden figure, dragged it to a San Francisco Beach, and burned it. The event officially moved from Baker Beach in San Francisco to the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada in 1990. That year, 350 people attended the event. According to Burning Man officials, that number rose to 75,069 during the 2022 festival.

This year's theme is Animalia. The festival is scheduled to run from Sunday, Aug. 27 to Monday, Sept. 4.