PolyParadise - 2018 - What Worked
- History
- A Year in Wrap-up
- The Village of PolyParadise 21 Years In Black Rock City
- Camper Bios
- Playa Location
- PolyParadise Survival Guide - 2018
Friday December 28, 2018
Each
year this is my space as Benevolent Dictator to reflect on the year
that was in Black Rock City ala The Village
of
PolyParadise. To take a look at what we did
right and what we did wrong; how the changes we
instituted from the previous year worked out and
what we might do to improve in 2019. This was
the 20th year of PolyParadise;
There is no doubt that it gets better & better
each year.
You all should be very proud of the Community you created & nurtured all week long.
I thank you all for being part of the 20th ANNIVERSARY of the Village of PolyParadise.
I offer my own observations and as always welcome Comments, Praises, Bitches & Roses for areas of your concern as campers that I have not addressed. Please post to our Yahoo Group or to our Facebook Page - generate some chatter; let's get PSYCHED!!! 239 Days!!!
****PolyParadise****
The total population of the PolyParadise On-Playa was 245 Campers. We thank the Twisted Swan & The Temple of Bacchus for being part of our Village; adding in their 52 Campers we had a total of 297 Campers within the Village - WOW!!!!!
We had 175 veteran campers return and 122 new campers and of that number 78 were Burning Man VIRGINS. I thank all of the returning campers for making PolyParadise your Playa home, I so depend on each & everyone of you in making our camp an amazing loving space. Thank you to the 36 International campers from (Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Poland).
We did end 2018 with a positive balance of $857. The money will be used to purchase the additional infrastructure we need as a Theme Camp.
I hope that all of our Virgin campers have seen what Community really means, and I hope that you will all camp with us again.
I hope that everyone had an amazing time as a Village of PolyParadise Resident.
Our 2018 Playa dimensions was 350'x450'. The Twisted Swan & Temple of Bacchus were included within that space; they were allocated a 100'x150' space with road frontage. Our space took shape from Day One (Tuesday Pre-Event) with Pin Flags being placed to create three (3) distinct RV Service Roads (On on each end and between PolyParadise & The Twisted Swan), from there within PolyParadise we did the best we could to create vertical rows of vehicles between Elektro & Gort. This allowed us to create walkways thru camp that should have made getting from the ends of the camp to the Community Space easier. The Community Space, Serving Area & Kitchen was an INCREDIBLE space in both day light and at night.
PolyParadise continues to be a ‘Camp Drama Free Zone’, I mean everyone seems to get along, no assaults, no fisticuffs between campers. No one acted like a 3-year old. So Thanks to all of YOU!!!
****Playa Location****
Each year BRC Placement continues to create unique neighborhoods with all placed Theme Camps & Villages. In 2018 we were mapped @ 8:15 Electro to Gort with the Twisted Swan & Temple of Bacchus as part of that allocated space. We were mid-block between 8:00 & 8:30. We again located the the Human Carcass Wash on the G-Street; regardless of having to transport all the shade structure stuff to G - having the event in the center of our space; at the T in the road as 8:15 stopped @ G was AMAZING!!! With our larger footprint we were able to create a Bike area next to the Human Carcass Wash to keep the bikes out of the road.
We had awesome foot traffic in our Community Space and incredible attendance at all of our camp events. The Twisted Swan & Temple of Bacchus had awesome attendance @ their events - The BAR was well attended every night.
Placement did some major shifting of camp locations in 2018; with our move to the other side of BRC (8:15 instead of 4:15) I did not see any real issues in being on that side of the city. We did get a bit more dust as that dust comes off of Gate Road, but the 8:15 side was just as amazing with awesome neighbors.
For 2019 we will be asking for the same placement area & dimensions; but there are no guarantees - we get placed and given our Camp Dimensions and that is that; it is Burning Man we adapt.
What were your impressions of 8:15 - Elektro to Gort?
****Kitchen & Stuff****
In 2018 PolyParadise continued with the Community Kitchen related ‘Requirement’ upon registration; to be part of the daily cooking/feeding ritual - make one meal for 25 people and be able to enjoy a smorgasbord of food the rest of the week. The Community Kitchen was an awesome success! Thanks so much to Knotch, Shadow & Laura for stepping up as our returning KITCHEN BIATCHES and to all of their helpers that maintained the kitchen all week long.
The kitchen & serving areas encompassed a full 40'x40' – the layout was awesome for ingress & egress in and out of the kitchen area. This year we implemented a 10'x40' 'Cooler Cove' at the back of the kitchen that allowed us get personal coolers out of the walkways in the kitchen; this was AMAZING! The Large Grill & Flattop Grill were also located in this area which seemed to work well. In the Kitchen Biatches report they ask to purchase a larger scale pump to macerate the food waste to make sure that the collector bin is free of large waste that may clog the hose to the gray water tanks - will do!
With the six (6) 3-Burner Cast Iron stoves, we had plenty of cooking surface area. The wind and keeping the stoves lit continues to be an issue - The additional wind shields created by Honest John to mitigate or reduce this issue work well. The VERY LARGE GRILL now in its 4th year is holding up fine and allows us to cook meat dishes far more effectively. We do need new regulators and there were comments from the Kitchen Biatches that work needs to be done on the V.3 of the grease catch device. Look forward to making the grill & flat top more effective.
We had plenty of snacks for everyone, and all seemed satisfied with the selections available. We did not come back home with very much - the purchase on Burning Man shopping day of types of snacks are at the mercy of what is available on that day @ Costco but what is evident that the Juice Packs are a big hit - Noted.
Thanks to everyone that took the time & effort to create some awesome meals all week long. There were so many great courses served each day. With so many international campers we are delighted to have such an out of country meal experience; thanks for sharing your unique cuisine with us. Thanks to everyone who assisted with Trash Can Pizza & Trash Can Turkey!!! Thanks to everyone who cleaned up, picked up, MOOPED up.
Dishwashing and keeping the Pots/Pans washed and available for the next person continues to improve year to year as we as a community become better washers and more aware that if we want clean pots & pans that the only way that is accomplished is by each of us doing some dishes during the week.
The three standup kitchen sinks were raised up from their standard height by being placed on top of milk crates worked well so that no one had to bend over to wash dishes. Wrapping the sink gray water containment in a tarp to minimize leakage/spills to the playa worked well.
The Kitchen/Serving Area & Community Space were (4) 20’x40’ structures oriented with the straight edges meeting instead of at the peak. With this arrangement we are able to use tarps to 'Wall Off' 20' (10' on either side), having a 20' opening (in the middle) between the Kitchen area & the Community space to better manage wind thru the kitchen. The kitchen arrangement continues to work well with the two corner areas that housed the shelving with the snacks, pots & pans and the other side was the coffee tea area.
The 100-cup
coffee maker was not found when we arrived
on-playa. Thanks to Cactus Man for
picking up 12-cup coffee makers on the way & to
Haji for making sure that coffee was made each
year. I hope that everybody enjoyed the
Seattle's Best Coffee this year. For 2019 we are
going to purchase a more industrial type coffee
maker that has one brew station and two warmer
stations. This way there will be coffee
always available with one pot brewing. The
large coffee pots are nice for bulk dispensing
but take way to long to bring to boil that much
water.
In 2018 we were required to apply for and adhere to the standards of a Nevada State Health Department Food Permit. This was the sixth year of this mandate for camps with a population over 125 serving community meals. The cost of the Food Permit was $50. With our Official Food Permit prominently displayed within the kitchen; we had a visit on Monday from the Nevada State Health Department to see that we were complying with the stated rules, which included: Food Handler Gloves, Hand Washing Station (Hand Soap, Towels, Continual Flow Water) Bleach cleaning supplies, clearly visible menu, separate food preparation/serving areas, food thermometers, and clearly marked Community/Personal Coolers.
In previous years of being inspected we had been cited in a few areas including: Gloves not being worn by food preparers, Food needs to be served to guests as opposed to guests severing themselves. With the prominent display of signage within the kitchen we were able to satisfy the inspectors and received a PASSING GRADE! We also received HIGH MARKS with the Foot Pump/Hand Washing Station 4.0 - Our hats OFF to Knotch for constructing three new hand washing stations. NOTED: WE NEED WAY MORE BUCKETS!!!
I believe that the only thing we were cited for was that our bleach was OLD - That was my fault who knew that on-year old bleach in its sealed container would loose its potency. We will make sure to purchase new bleach bottles each year.
Our callout about Personal Coolers and the NEED to come to the Playa with ICE was met with great success - Thanks to you all for heeding that call out.
Here is the text from the Survival Guide 2018:
When you pack for your trip to BRC - your cooler should be ICED – When you are at the last stop on Rt. 80 (From the West (Sparks) – From the East (Fernley) before making the turn on HYW 447 heading towards Gerlach – YOUR COOLER SHOULD BE ICED!! When you arrive @ Burning Man your cooler should have ICE maybe somewhat melted but it should HAVE ICE!!
As a Village of 300 persons we are required to have a Health Permit by the Nevada Health Dept. The Health Dept will visit our camp and make sure that we are adhering to all prescribed food preparation – serving – cleanup requirements. In 2017 WE DID GREAT WITH THE PREPARATION – SERVING – CLEANUP aspects of the inspection in part to the efforts of our Kitchen Biatches >Knotch< & Shadow. BUT WHERE WE HAD ISSUES WAS WITH PERSONAL COOLERS THAT WERE PLACED IN THE KITCHEN THAT HAD NO ICE. The Health Dept will inspect all coolers and make sure that the contents of said cooler are at proper temperature. Obviously, coolers that have NO ICE or LIMITED ICE cannot possibly be at proper temperature. The contents of any cooler not cooled to proper temperature were DISCARDED!
WE HIGHLY ENCOURAGE – NO WE REQUIRE that you ICE DOWN YOUR COOLERS as you start your trip to the Playa and KEEP ICE LEVEL IN COOLERS AS REQUIRED during your trip.
This will ensure that when you cook your meal that NO ONE EATING YOUR FOOD WILL GET SICK! We will also be more proactive and do an ICE RUN on Sunday (Day 1) that any camper can use to make sure that when you arrive On-Playa that your cooler can be RE-ICED and your food can be kept to temperature and KEPT SAFE FOR EATING!!
ULTIMATELY KEEPING YOUR COOLER ICED – YOUR FOOD SAFE ON THE WAY TO BRC IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.
I realize that using the paper plates and plastic silverware creates additional trash, but I am convinced that going the disposable route is better than having regular tableware - having to constantly clean dishes & silverware. Of course needing to continually wash your own dishes and silverware for each meal requires water – then disposal of additional waste water. We will continue to use paper plates and plastic silverware in 2019.
Having the Menu & Volunteer list printed in a 5'x5' poster size board displayed in the Kitchen was awesome, letting everyone know what was going to be cooked at each meal and who volunteered for what events.
With regards to Syrup - We had many campers volunteer to make pancakes/waffles or things that needed syrup. The food items were delicious & tasty but each person brought their own supply of syrup, which means we have lots & lots of syrup. We now have enough syrup for pancakes/waffles to feed several armies. So if you plan to cook Pancakes/Waffles for 2019 WE HAVE SYRUP, no need to bring anymore.
Thanks so much to STAGGER for again heading up the Trash area and to everyone that assisted in bagging, tagging & tapping up trash. More importantly, thanks to all of you for taking some trash home. We generate this trash as a camp; we need to deal with its removal from the Playa as a Community. Because of your efforts and commitment and Love of Community Trash…We transported ZERO bags of trash off the Playa in the truck back to Phoenix. We did have 7 buckets of general slop, generator oil, left over food stuff slop, the remnants of many a thing on the Playa.
Thanks to all the PolyCampers that stayed till Tuesday and took any remaining trash bags Off-Playa.
Post-Playa there was some major discussion on our FB Group about kitchen issues with a few areas being called out. There was discussion about the long lines for food and that we might benefit from making the serving line on both sides of the table. In discussions with our kitchen staff we feel this would just not work and actually create additional bottlenecks in getting the masses the food. There are going to be long lines in serving a 297 person camp. I realize that some people cannot stand in line for as long as required - I call upon YOU the campers to assist others that might need assistance in getting a plate of food.
There was also discussion that at some meals not everyone got food that wanted/needed to eat and that maybe we needed to raise the minimum amount that each person cooks from 25 to 35 portions. Of course I want every camper to be able to get something to eat but what I do not want is that we actually have any leftovers in any meal as leftovers are difficult to store.
Please look over the notes provided by our Kitchen Biatches below.
****Kitchen Biatches Notes ala Knotch & Shadow****
PP Kitchen Lessons Learned 2018 - What went right and what went wrong observations in no particular order:
1. Need around 13 to 14 (5-gallon) buckets for kitchen: 6 for hand washing stations, 4 with lids for slop buckets, 3 or 4 available for people to fill with donated cooler water for dishwashing use.
2. Need a couple more of the quick read stem thermometers (only saw one this year). We have plenty of the large meat thermometers.
3. Need soap for dishwashing.
4. Need new chlorine test strips.
5. Need new Clorox bleach. Old bottles are weak.
6. Need to replace one collapsible garbage can for the kitchen. Only found two and normally have three.
7. Need bottles of hand soap for the three hand washing stations. We ran out. Someone donated an 8 oz bottle of Renew Hand Wash and I put it on one of the stations. It lasted the entire burn!!! It was used a lot. I used it every time and I washed a lot. One little 8 oz bottle. It is expensive but I think worth it. Melaleuca Renew Hand Wash 8 Oz.
8. 100 cup coffee pot
9. Need plastic kitchen prep gloves. Ran out.
10. Plates, bowls, forks, spoons, knives, napkins were adequate. No shortages.
11. Having both rolls of paper towels and the folded packs of napkins were good.
12. Clorox wipes are still the best table cleaners I have found. Restock.
13. Can we get this knife sharpener? I brought my personal one like this and it works great. Rich said it was one of the best he has ever used also. Smith's adjustable manual knife sharpener.
14. Think about a heavy duty macerator pump for dish water sump. If we had this food waste solids could be macerated and pumped with dirty dishwashing water into gray tanks. Might also keep the garbage a little lighter and less juicy and messy.
15. Restock supply of table clothes.
16. More Gorilla tape and orange duck tape. Used for holding tablecloths onto tables and orange tape for labeling bins.
17. Maybe spend more time at the clean-up party inventorying, sorting and labeling kitchen supply stock. Spoons, forks, napkins etc. were found as onesies scattered in many many bins. Shadow, Laura and I will concentrate more on this at the March cleaning party.
18. The dish washing sink (soap wash) drain hose has a split and needs repair.
19. Have a couple lengths of drain pipe cut and ready as spares to replace leaking ones if needed.
20. Sinks on crates were a good height. No changes.
21. Dish drying used two of the metal racks and worked great. No changes.
22. Large grill needs reworked. Left side stopped working. Possibly regulators are bad.
23. Mods to griddle pans for allowing grease to drain worked good on both grills.
24. Wire racks were adequate even though all could not be completed with all shelves. The new couplers did not work - wrong threads I believe.
25. Kitchen/garbage/cooler storage layout was GREAT! Keep it this way if possible.
26. Single line of tables across serving line (as it has been for years) works good (regardless of complaints by a few). I vote to keep it the way it was.
27. As you can see this is a short report compared to year before last. Thank you for tending to notes from our 2017 Lessons Learned so this 2018 one is so short!
28. Kitchen Bitches combined opinions: Would not raise the meal serving request higher than the 25 it currently is. We still have leftover waste but it is minimal. Meals are a gift and not an entitlement granted by camp fee. Better to leave the requirement as is and not have a lot of waste than raising it and having a lot of food waste to dispose of.
****Community Meals****
In 2018 PolyParadise had a Community related ‘Requirement’ upon registration, a choice of being part of cooking & sharing a meal for 25. The meals and the variety of all things cooked were amazing!!!! There was never a want for food, there were always choices.
Special callout to everyone that assisted in the creation of Trash Can Pizza on Tuesday, Of course to UncleBob for coming up with this crazy idea. Thanks to for everyone that assisted with Trash Can Turkey and a HUGE Thanks to the crew for jumping right in and carving up all that turkeys (90bs of BIRD) while an anxious crowd awaited food…Amazing!!
Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to the planning, cooking, serving & cleanup of each and every meal. For when we share a meal and break bread together we grow from just being friends to being FAMILY!
Over the years campers have mentioned to me that they arrived for a meal and there was not enough food for them or that they saw some campers going back for seconds and when they had not gotten any food. I understand your complaints - meal times are set at two hour intervals 8:00a-10:00a 12:00p-2:00p 6:00p-8:00p - Policing who gets in line and how many times is not where we are headed. There are two possible solutions to make sure you get food - Get to meal times ON TIME or see that there is not enough food and STEP UP and be part of the solution which is to Cook an additional meal for the community. Remember meals are not included in the Camp Fee; they are a GIFT to the Community.
****Community Space****
The space itself was awesome, area for chairs, crash space and the massage tables. Thanks again to Dr. J for that wonderful gift to the community, it has lasted 8yrs now and shows a few minor tears in the material but no major structural damage. Thanks to JustJack for donating a 2nd massage table - amazing and AWESOME!!
The space worked out well with the Community Space, Serving Area, and Kitchen all just one big connected space, so that the straight edge met instead of at the peak. The space measured 100’x40’, we used tarps to 'Wall Off' 20' (10' on either side), having a 20' opening (in the middle) between the two structures to better manage wind thru the kitchen.
The community space 60'x60' was incredible and well utilized. The extra space allowed us to be able to setup a Clothing Exchange area - additional room for more campers to sit & eat within the community space at once. Because of the limited room we had on the frontage of Electro we made an L with the 3rd 20'x40'; I actually liked the way it was setup.
The Popcorn Machine & late night movies were a big hit and will certainly be back in 2019. I know I had an awesome time watching movies and munching popcorn - I hope all of you did too. I am gathering additional movies titles to be available in 2019.
The space really kicked ass at night. The move to using all Rope Light to light the Kitchen and Community space was amazing!! It gave off the just enough ambient light.
I think we may be at a place where an additional 20'x40' might be in order for our Community Space area so that there is more room for all of our campers to sit & chat and of course to have dinner together.
****Playa Events****
This was an amazing year for PolyParadise Playa Events. We had lots of amazing events that drew large crowds each day.
Our Playa Events - Poly High Tea - Human Carcass Wash - Mind Melt - Poly Friendly Social Mixer, Burning On Your Mind: An Open Mic About Burning Man, Hugging Meditation, Yoga Postures for 2, Mindful Hugging, Best sex living with STD's, SWOP (Sex Worker Outreach Program) Unite!, Slinky Manipulation 101: The World's Newest Flow Art, Pasties Making Workshop, Himalayan Singing Bowls and of course EVERY NIGHT @ THE TWISTED SWAN!!!
Major Kudos to the organizers of all of our Playa Events. You all are aces in my book!!! Thanks to everyone who assisted in each and every event. The events are as much for us as a camp as well as sharing with the Playa Citizenry.
The Human Carcass Wash encompassed a full 60’x40’ structure. Long gone are the days from circa 2001 when the HCW was a 5'x7' piece of Astroturf. With this additional space the HCW now serves well over 500 participants daily!!! Freakin INCREDIBLE!!!
****Poly Dome****
A huge shootout to Tailfeather and his drama filled travels to Burning Man 2018 and his perseverance to try and make the Playa. So the dome did not make it and our campers found other places for group sexual exploration. It is my feeling for the land area the 28ft dome takes up it is way under utilized as a collective sexual space. In conversations with Tailfeather his is committed to bringing back the dome and the top platform it allows. I am all for that but we are going to change what that space represents. In a year of The Theme being Metamorphosis the dome will become an Arts & Maker Space with many more details to be announced. I highly encourage you to volunteer with Tailfeather for erection & dismantle of the dome as many hands makes light work & then Johnny can play!!!
****Poly Shower****
Major kudos for another year goes to Twist for the shower base & frame that we have been using since 2008. The new coat of Epoxy Paint we installed the previous year continued to work great. Major thanks to Rich, Cactusman and crew for tackling ripping out the original floor mounts for the poles and installing new 1" footpads. These larger footpads allowed us to raise the height of the enclosure to 10'. Major Kudos to Cactusman for coming up with an ingenious pulley system to be able to raise & lower the shower bags. It worked GREAT!!!
A possible culprit to our yellow spot on the MOOP Map may be the shower area as we had water spillage when filling up the shower bags. A solution may be to use the canvas tarps underneath the entire shower area and see how that might mitigate this issue.
For 2019 we will need to fashion a new set of stairs (With handrail) to make it easier for our campers to navigate and get up & down safely. KUDOS in advance to Richard who will lead this efforts @ the Work Weekend in March.
****Leave No Trace****
PolyParadise has always prided itself on its Cleanup & Recycle efforts. The 2018 MOOP Map shows we had a single YELLOW spot and two RED spots near the 8:00 RV Line for our 350'x440' (3.53 acres) space was amazing!!! This space appears to be near the shower/gray water area. This year Playa Restoration gave a link to submit questions on Yellow/Red areas within a camp space - I submitted that request but as of this writing I have not hear back as to what that Yellow spot may indicate. Thanks to all that MOOPED all week and to anyone and everyone that stayed thru Wednesday and being the last off the Playa and for making sure that our LNT efforts would in fact be as GREEN as possible!!
We did have several visits from the Earth Guardians in which they schooled us in two areas. Proper placement of Gas Cans (Not on the Playa surface, as this was a major push from the BLM) and our Gray Water area. We did have an incident where the hose from the sink came out of the Gray Water Tank and spilled dirty water on the Playa. To better deal with this in 2019 we will need a cinder block to keep the hose inside the tank and the entire Gray Water, Shower area & the entire sink area will be placed on top of tarp and canvas flooring to better capture this dirty water if a spill were to occur.
We need to strive for ALL GREEN in 2019!!!
For
2019 our MOOP MAP
Footprint goal is ALL GREEN - we can
ALWAYS be more MOOP vigilant. Remember it is
MOOP if it is not Playa -that is the definition
of Leave No Trace. Overall we did an amazing job
- thanks to all that assisted in Never Letting
It Hit the Ground!!! Thank you to everybody that
stayed for teardown and beyond...You guys ROCK
for making those last sweeps through our space
and making sure we would be MOOP FREE! Overall
we did an amazing job - thanks to all that
assisted in Never Letting It Hit the Ground!!!
Thank you to everybody that stayed for teardown
and beyond...You guys ROCK for making those last
sweeps through our space and making sure we
would be as MOOP FREE as possible.
We found out when we were on the way to the Playa that the BLM was requiring gasoline containment. MAJOR Kudos to Rich for picking up the kiddy pools. It is also a requirement that all RVS that bring gasoline for their generators MUST have the same gasoline containment. Regardless of the size requirement they take up they are a necessity - we will invest in a multitude of the smaller pools for RV Gas containment but I HIGHLY encourage all RV's to provide a kiddy pool or non-pours container for your gasoline (Wrapped in Tarps does NOT meet the requirement).
We did receive several visits via LNT representatives, Rangers and Playa Restoration in order to deal with the spill @ the Gray Water Tank when the hose came out and sprayed the Playa with Dirty Water. I was impressed with their responsiveness to situations they were on the lookout for - MAJOR Kudos for their service to Black Rock City. As always we need to be as vigilant as we can to never need their intervention on our behalf.
****Survival Guide****
2018 marked 10 years of the PolyParadise Survival Guide. The survival guide was emailed to all campers upon registration and was available via the web site for review. I hope that each of you found it useful.
****Gray Water Reclamation****
Our Gray Water disposal with the drain system for the sink and the shower that emptied into the holding tanks were provided by United Site Services. This system provides us as a camp a no-worry way to deal with the Gray Water issue.
In 2018 we contracted with United Site Services to provide Grey Water Reclamation Services. We rented (4) 250G tanks (The largest USS rents) - three were for PolyParadise & one was for the Twisted Swan. Our contract was for Servicing the tanks Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday. Over course of the week I estimate we generated just about 1,500 Gallons of Gray Water. We are not the only camp that deals with issues in making sure we get the tanks emptied when we need them but of course USS is the only game in town so we are at thier mercy.
****Water – Water - Water****
In the desert water is a commodity – it is used to cook – clean posts/pans & dishes, starter for the Human Carcass Wash and of course for taking a shower. As a camp we require each vehicle in camp to donate 5 gallons of water to assist with our water supply as a camp. We obviously use a lot of water to do these tasks; even if we had 75 vehicles all bringing 5 Gallons of water that is only 375 gallons to add to the 100 that we bring in the U-Haul.
Some people have suggested that we get potable water delivered so that the amount of water is not an issue and do away with the requirement of the water donation and eliminate a lot of plastic waste. My opinion is that we need to remember that Burning Man is a desert camping trip and part of its ethos is we bring what we need to consume and take away what we use. Each camper manages their own water and as a Theme Camp we need to do the same.
We most certainly need water for making Coffee - we need water for washing dishes - I really do not want to have a water delivery and take us away from knowing we need to be self-sufficient - In that vein I highly encourage - if you have the means & space to bring additional water for camp use it would be appreciated.
****Garbage, Garbage, Garbage****
Many Many thanks to STAGGER for again heading up all things Garbage Czar for stepping up and taking on the role of TRASH! We very much appreciate his dedication to the ART OF GARBAGE and doing quite a bit of travel to come to the Playa for the start - setup the garbage collection area - leave the playa - come back to PolyParadise at the end of the week and make the distribution of Community Garbage to all campers - I LOVE YOU MAN!!!
Since the Trash is generated by the community - our camp requirement is for each vehicle to take two bags of Trash Off-Playa...Thanks to Stagger for making it easy with double-bagged/tapped/labeled bags for each of us. Were you surprised to find your personal bag-o-trash at your vehicle :) Major kudos to anyone and everyone that transported more than one bag, you are aces in my book!!
We do generate quite a bit of 'Burnable Garbage' we compacted the Burnable bags / wrapping them up tightly with gorilla tape & transported off-playa like other plastic bag garbage. This appeared to work well. I hope that you are all depositing this garbage in the proper receptacles off-playa.
I encourage all campers to check in with Stagger and see how you might assist him in the managing of the garbage - Community Generated - Community Managed.
We are noticing that each year we are getting more campers that are entering Black Rock City via the Burner Express bus service. With this accommodation you receive a Clear Plastic MOOP BAG that you can bring back on your way home. We highly encourage all campers that use the Burner Express Bus Service to bring their MOOP BAG to STAGGER so he can properly fill them for you to transport off-playa.
***** 2018 Garbage Czar Report ****
I am so happy to report that Poly Paradise’s garbage situation this year went extremely well compared to some years past.
Due to medical issues with my wife I was not able to spend the entire week at PolyParadise. That said, folks stepped up and when I came back to the playa the garbage area was in great shape.
Filled bags were not overstuffed and stacked neatly in the back of the area. Cardboard was separated and ready to bundle.
Delivery was smooth and, though I had to leave earlier than normal, things were under control during breakdown.
Thanks everyone who took care of monitoring the trash while I was not there. 2018 was a garbage success.
****20th Anniversary Art Project****
Thanks to Atira, Armella, Rich, Uncle Bob, Tattletale & ALL CAMPERS that assisted in creating, erecting our 20th Anniversary Man/Heart/Infinity Symbol Art Project - Special callout to Ian Liljeblad for allowing us to utilize his talents and Plasma Cutter to create the Art Piece. SPECIAL CALLOUT to Master Twist who came up with the ingenious idea to use magnets to be able to secure the LED Light Strips to the Metal Man.
For 2019 we will make a few adjustments to the Art Piece: Extend the Heart/Infinity symbol on both sides of the man out approx. 8 Inches from the Man and secure that straight thru to the other side to give more stability to the Art Piece in general and give a neat depth effect. We will also purchase additional LED Lights to outline the Heart Infinity Symbol separate from the man as well as upgrade the the controller to give us additional modes/patterns of LED Light along the entire structure.
Think as well that maybe we do a 2nd Art Project with the same type of lighting truss that spells out PolyParadise with 1Ft Wood Letters that we could light up and have as the entrance way that could be walked under/thru - though this is just a thought...What say you all?
****Early Arrival & Exodus****
Early Arrival - Many, Many thanks to all of our Early Arrival crew. Kudos go out to all of you for your tireless efforts to get the camp erected and all system connected. You guys ROCK!!!
The crew was awesome!!! We rocked the house and had the entire infrastructure up & functional by Sunday morning. I thank you all so much for doing what needed to be done, being out in the Sun & Dust; making PolyParadise happen On-Playa!!!
We set the camp up over several days, but we take it down in just a few hours, it is a massive undertaking that requires lots & lots of hands. You cannot be 'Required' to stay and assist with breakdown, but know that each and every one of you that did help is so very much appreciated. This year’s crew was incredible. Thank you all so much for doing the dirty work and being there to pack away our community for another year.
We again stayed until Tuesday morning; this allowed for a more cohesive teardown & truck packing and my. We had a great time with the folks that stayed and many thanks to everyone that did the last of the MOOP WALK. throughout our camp space.
****Those Amazing AZBurners****
BIG BIG Kudos - To our fellow AZBurners who are always available to assist during the year; for Truck Loading & Unpacking; carrying, cleaning, sorting and building PolyParadise year-round here in Phoenix. Special Thanks to (UncleBob, Rich, Poje, Big Phreeky, Alien, Sarge, Kilted James, The Doctor, Cobalt, Armella, Paul, Corvus, Sandman, Cactus Man, Raymond, Atira, Cobalt, Rich, Knotch, Shadow, Fancy Nancy, Neefer, JimyMac, Dr. Dirt, Daniel, Tequila Mike, Tony, Sunshine, Rich, Diane, Dance Boy, Laura, Cole, Chaz, Dr. Liz) Back in the day circa 2006 it was only WildChild & I that represented Arizona in PolyParadise. It is amazing to have had 37 AZBurners in our camp this year. You are all ACES in my book!!! Thank you all so very much!!!
****Annual Work-Party****
Another Playa year is upon us; PolyParadise will be celebrating 21 years within the gates of Black Rock City in 2019.
Running a large Theme Camp is a year-round process and requires participation by many people, especially at our annual Spring Work-Party. This is where we take the contents of our garage, all the PolyParadise Playa Gear, and clean, sort and other wise inventory what we have and what we need...making an assessment of what we have, what broke & what needs replacing.
PolyParadise will be having its annual Work Party (Clean Scotto & WildChild's Garage & thus the PolyParadise Playa Gear) on Saturday March 16, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona starting at 10a.....You are welcome to come for the day or the weekend...We have enough room to accommodate a few overnighters and can set up tents in the backyard.
Once we have cleaned the PolyParadise Playa Gear and are sufficiently covered in Playa Dust, there is a Hot Tub and of course if it is warm enough, or anybody is adventurous enough, we now have a pool; we can PARTY!!!
WildChild & I would like to thank the PolyParadise Work-Party 2018 Crew:
Thanks as well to our dogs: Toby & Sammy for keeping us all entertained., we certainly hope we can entice all of you back again this year.
Of course you are all welcome to come to Phoenix and join us, just drop me a line.
We promise to take lots of pics as we sort & clean the Playa Gear and get our garage in some semblance of Playa order.
****Generator Power****
When it comes to the camp’s Generation and use of highly charged electrons, there is someone who needs special THANKS!!! TWIST!!! Hats off to you my Right Hand Man & Rocket Scientist!!!!
This year we rented a Honda EU 7000 generator; in conjunction with our 2500W Battery Backup system. This system created by TWIST! worked AMAZING!! Over the summer TWIST also reworked the 2,500W Battery Backup system that made it way easier to transport and in & off the truck for transport - it worked amazing!!!!
The Battery System weighs over 300lbs - the wheel base of the cart it is on needed work and instead of fixing the current cart - MASTERTWIST will be updating the cart on a newly purchased motorized wheelchair - ALL HAIL MASTERTWIST who will hopefully be making Playa Land Fall in 2019 after a 11yr hiatus. All Hail Master-Twist!!!!! Your Master Skills as a Rocket Scientist have no gone unnoticed.
This system in conjunction with the new Yellow Distribution box/cords/cables we were able to provide a way for us to have continual power to the Shower & Sink pumps and critical lights within the Kitchen & Community space when the Generator was off or had run out of gas.
Thanks so much to Rich for taking on the electrical grid - You are a credit to your skills and am always in awe of making sense of the spaghetti of cords. All Hail Master-Twist & Rich!!!!!
****Burning Man Tickets 2019****
The distribution of tickets for Burning Man 2019 has yet to be announced:
Burning Man Ticket Page http://tickets.burningman.org/ for details.
Registration for tickets will be thru your Burner Profile:
https://profiles.burningman.com/wp-login.php
As a Theme Camp we do get to participate in the Directed Sale - The available slots in this sale are reserved for our key crew as well as new additions each year.
****Camping Fee - 2019****
Our only source of income to cover the costs of bringing PolyParadise to Black Rock City each year is thru the Camp Fee. In 2018 we established a camping fee of $175/person.
We did end 2018 with a positive balance of $857. The money will be used to purchase the additional infrastructure we need as a Theme Camp.
There are several items that need replacing | upgrading including: Replace several 20'x40 Tarps, additional Canvas Tarps and I am sure lots of other items - The Fee for Camping with PolyParadise 2019 will remain $175/person.
Registration for PolyParadise will begin on March 1, 2019...
Because of the income reporting changes made by PayPal I am no longer be able to accept payment for camp fees via said PayPal. Camp Fees in 2019 must be paid via check or money order. Bottom line if your check BOUNCES please plan on camping elsewhere.
****Scotto Speak****
2018 was my 19th Burn and my 17th serving as Camp Daddy, Benevolent Dictator of PolyParadise. We gather together from all corners of the globe to share, learn & grow - a passion & commitment to Community and lifelong friendships created on the hallowed grounds of BRC and within the borders of PolyParadise. I cannot imagine my life without Burning Man or PolyParadise. I thank you all for being part of it all with me.
The Burning Man/PolyParadise experience is different for each person. It is my hope that each of you felt you had a home & a family within the borders of PolyParadise and that each one of you had the MOST AWESOME TIME EVER!!! I hope that if you return to Burning Man again, you will camp with us and again help create the Community we love, PolyParadise in BRC!
My overall assessment of our camp is that after 20yrs we have this Playa thing down pretty good. Rinse - Repeat - Revise. We provide a great home within the Gates of BRC, a drama free space with an amazing Community Space/Kitchen, Events area, The HUMAN CARCASS WASH, Shower and of course the power of family & friends.
There is an extra special Callout; reserved to my Life Partner, Wife, Friend & companion, WildChild. You teach me each day the value of a Big Heart and are constantly there all year long with a smile, encouragement and new ideas to make the Burning Man/PolyParadise experience better & better each year. You are there to meet each challenge, you are there for our campers and most importantly you are there for me, I am forever yours.
Again, it has been my pleasure and honor serve as your Camp Daddy (Benevolent Dictator). Each year brings a different set of challenges, a different set of lessons to be had & learned or stumbled upon; you just never know what the Playa will bring....
We will learn from our mistakes, we will again come alive with The Village of PolyParadise, Version 21, it will be better than ever!!!
August 29 - September 6 - 2021 - 240 Days left till Burning Man!
Scotto
- Camp Daddy
- Benevolent Dictator Village of PolyParadise
- Burning Man Lifer/Geek/Zealot
You all should be very proud of the Community you created & nurtured all week long.
I thank you all for being part of the 20th ANNIVERSARY of the Village of PolyParadise.
I offer my own observations and as always welcome Comments, Praises, Bitches & Roses for areas of your concern as campers that I have not addressed. Please post to our Yahoo Group or to our Facebook Page - generate some chatter; let's get PSYCHED!!! 239 Days!!!
****PolyParadise****
The total population of the PolyParadise On-Playa was 245 Campers. We thank the Twisted Swan & The Temple of Bacchus for being part of our Village; adding in their 52 Campers we had a total of 297 Campers within the Village - WOW!!!!!
We had 175 veteran campers return and 122 new campers and of that number 78 were Burning Man VIRGINS. I thank all of the returning campers for making PolyParadise your Playa home, I so depend on each & everyone of you in making our camp an amazing loving space. Thank you to the 36 International campers from (Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Poland).
We did end 2018 with a positive balance of $857. The money will be used to purchase the additional infrastructure we need as a Theme Camp.
I hope that all of our Virgin campers have seen what Community really means, and I hope that you will all camp with us again.
I hope that everyone had an amazing time as a Village of PolyParadise Resident.
Our 2018 Playa dimensions was 350'x450'. The Twisted Swan & Temple of Bacchus were included within that space; they were allocated a 100'x150' space with road frontage. Our space took shape from Day One (Tuesday Pre-Event) with Pin Flags being placed to create three (3) distinct RV Service Roads (On on each end and between PolyParadise & The Twisted Swan), from there within PolyParadise we did the best we could to create vertical rows of vehicles between Elektro & Gort. This allowed us to create walkways thru camp that should have made getting from the ends of the camp to the Community Space easier. The Community Space, Serving Area & Kitchen was an INCREDIBLE space in both day light and at night.
PolyParadise continues to be a ‘Camp Drama Free Zone’, I mean everyone seems to get along, no assaults, no fisticuffs between campers. No one acted like a 3-year old. So Thanks to all of YOU!!!
****Playa Location****
Each year BRC Placement continues to create unique neighborhoods with all placed Theme Camps & Villages. In 2018 we were mapped @ 8:15 Electro to Gort with the Twisted Swan & Temple of Bacchus as part of that allocated space. We were mid-block between 8:00 & 8:30. We again located the the Human Carcass Wash on the G-Street; regardless of having to transport all the shade structure stuff to G - having the event in the center of our space; at the T in the road as 8:15 stopped @ G was AMAZING!!! With our larger footprint we were able to create a Bike area next to the Human Carcass Wash to keep the bikes out of the road.
We had awesome foot traffic in our Community Space and incredible attendance at all of our camp events. The Twisted Swan & Temple of Bacchus had awesome attendance @ their events - The BAR was well attended every night.
Placement did some major shifting of camp locations in 2018; with our move to the other side of BRC (8:15 instead of 4:15) I did not see any real issues in being on that side of the city. We did get a bit more dust as that dust comes off of Gate Road, but the 8:15 side was just as amazing with awesome neighbors.
For 2019 we will be asking for the same placement area & dimensions; but there are no guarantees - we get placed and given our Camp Dimensions and that is that; it is Burning Man we adapt.
What were your impressions of 8:15 - Elektro to Gort?
****Kitchen & Stuff****
In 2018 PolyParadise continued with the Community Kitchen related ‘Requirement’ upon registration; to be part of the daily cooking/feeding ritual - make one meal for 25 people and be able to enjoy a smorgasbord of food the rest of the week. The Community Kitchen was an awesome success! Thanks so much to Knotch, Shadow & Laura for stepping up as our returning KITCHEN BIATCHES and to all of their helpers that maintained the kitchen all week long.
The kitchen & serving areas encompassed a full 40'x40' – the layout was awesome for ingress & egress in and out of the kitchen area. This year we implemented a 10'x40' 'Cooler Cove' at the back of the kitchen that allowed us get personal coolers out of the walkways in the kitchen; this was AMAZING! The Large Grill & Flattop Grill were also located in this area which seemed to work well. In the Kitchen Biatches report they ask to purchase a larger scale pump to macerate the food waste to make sure that the collector bin is free of large waste that may clog the hose to the gray water tanks - will do!
With the six (6) 3-Burner Cast Iron stoves, we had plenty of cooking surface area. The wind and keeping the stoves lit continues to be an issue - The additional wind shields created by Honest John to mitigate or reduce this issue work well. The VERY LARGE GRILL now in its 4th year is holding up fine and allows us to cook meat dishes far more effectively. We do need new regulators and there were comments from the Kitchen Biatches that work needs to be done on the V.3 of the grease catch device. Look forward to making the grill & flat top more effective.
We had plenty of snacks for everyone, and all seemed satisfied with the selections available. We did not come back home with very much - the purchase on Burning Man shopping day of types of snacks are at the mercy of what is available on that day @ Costco but what is evident that the Juice Packs are a big hit - Noted.
Thanks to everyone that took the time & effort to create some awesome meals all week long. There were so many great courses served each day. With so many international campers we are delighted to have such an out of country meal experience; thanks for sharing your unique cuisine with us. Thanks to everyone who assisted with Trash Can Pizza & Trash Can Turkey!!! Thanks to everyone who cleaned up, picked up, MOOPED up.
Dishwashing and keeping the Pots/Pans washed and available for the next person continues to improve year to year as we as a community become better washers and more aware that if we want clean pots & pans that the only way that is accomplished is by each of us doing some dishes during the week.
The three standup kitchen sinks were raised up from their standard height by being placed on top of milk crates worked well so that no one had to bend over to wash dishes. Wrapping the sink gray water containment in a tarp to minimize leakage/spills to the playa worked well.
The Kitchen/Serving Area & Community Space were (4) 20’x40’ structures oriented with the straight edges meeting instead of at the peak. With this arrangement we are able to use tarps to 'Wall Off' 20' (10' on either side), having a 20' opening (in the middle) between the Kitchen area & the Community space to better manage wind thru the kitchen. The kitchen arrangement continues to work well with the two corner areas that housed the shelving with the snacks, pots & pans and the other side was the coffee tea area.
The 100-cup
coffee maker was not found when we arrived
on-playa. Thanks to Cactus Man for
picking up 12-cup coffee makers on the way & to
Haji for making sure that coffee was made each
year. I hope that everybody enjoyed the
Seattle's Best Coffee this year. For 2019 we are
going to purchase a more industrial type coffee
maker that has one brew station and two warmer
stations. This way there will be coffee
always available with one pot brewing. The
large coffee pots are nice for bulk dispensing
but take way to long to bring to boil that much
water.In 2018 we were required to apply for and adhere to the standards of a Nevada State Health Department Food Permit. This was the sixth year of this mandate for camps with a population over 125 serving community meals. The cost of the Food Permit was $50. With our Official Food Permit prominently displayed within the kitchen; we had a visit on Monday from the Nevada State Health Department to see that we were complying with the stated rules, which included: Food Handler Gloves, Hand Washing Station (Hand Soap, Towels, Continual Flow Water) Bleach cleaning supplies, clearly visible menu, separate food preparation/serving areas, food thermometers, and clearly marked Community/Personal Coolers.
In previous years of being inspected we had been cited in a few areas including: Gloves not being worn by food preparers, Food needs to be served to guests as opposed to guests severing themselves. With the prominent display of signage within the kitchen we were able to satisfy the inspectors and received a PASSING GRADE! We also received HIGH MARKS with the Foot Pump/Hand Washing Station 4.0 - Our hats OFF to Knotch for constructing three new hand washing stations. NOTED: WE NEED WAY MORE BUCKETS!!!
I believe that the only thing we were cited for was that our bleach was OLD - That was my fault who knew that on-year old bleach in its sealed container would loose its potency. We will make sure to purchase new bleach bottles each year.
Our callout about Personal Coolers and the NEED to come to the Playa with ICE was met with great success - Thanks to you all for heeding that call out.
Here is the text from the Survival Guide 2018:
When you pack for your trip to BRC - your cooler should be ICED – When you are at the last stop on Rt. 80 (From the West (Sparks) – From the East (Fernley) before making the turn on HYW 447 heading towards Gerlach – YOUR COOLER SHOULD BE ICED!! When you arrive @ Burning Man your cooler should have ICE maybe somewhat melted but it should HAVE ICE!!
As a Village of 300 persons we are required to have a Health Permit by the Nevada Health Dept. The Health Dept will visit our camp and make sure that we are adhering to all prescribed food preparation – serving – cleanup requirements. In 2017 WE DID GREAT WITH THE PREPARATION – SERVING – CLEANUP aspects of the inspection in part to the efforts of our Kitchen Biatches >Knotch< & Shadow. BUT WHERE WE HAD ISSUES WAS WITH PERSONAL COOLERS THAT WERE PLACED IN THE KITCHEN THAT HAD NO ICE. The Health Dept will inspect all coolers and make sure that the contents of said cooler are at proper temperature. Obviously, coolers that have NO ICE or LIMITED ICE cannot possibly be at proper temperature. The contents of any cooler not cooled to proper temperature were DISCARDED!
WE HIGHLY ENCOURAGE – NO WE REQUIRE that you ICE DOWN YOUR COOLERS as you start your trip to the Playa and KEEP ICE LEVEL IN COOLERS AS REQUIRED during your trip.
This will ensure that when you cook your meal that NO ONE EATING YOUR FOOD WILL GET SICK! We will also be more proactive and do an ICE RUN on Sunday (Day 1) that any camper can use to make sure that when you arrive On-Playa that your cooler can be RE-ICED and your food can be kept to temperature and KEPT SAFE FOR EATING!!
ULTIMATELY KEEPING YOUR COOLER ICED – YOUR FOOD SAFE ON THE WAY TO BRC IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.
I realize that using the paper plates and plastic silverware creates additional trash, but I am convinced that going the disposable route is better than having regular tableware - having to constantly clean dishes & silverware. Of course needing to continually wash your own dishes and silverware for each meal requires water – then disposal of additional waste water. We will continue to use paper plates and plastic silverware in 2019.
Having the Menu & Volunteer list printed in a 5'x5' poster size board displayed in the Kitchen was awesome, letting everyone know what was going to be cooked at each meal and who volunteered for what events.
With regards to Syrup - We had many campers volunteer to make pancakes/waffles or things that needed syrup. The food items were delicious & tasty but each person brought their own supply of syrup, which means we have lots & lots of syrup. We now have enough syrup for pancakes/waffles to feed several armies. So if you plan to cook Pancakes/Waffles for 2019 WE HAVE SYRUP, no need to bring anymore.
Thanks so much to STAGGER for again heading up the Trash area and to everyone that assisted in bagging, tagging & tapping up trash. More importantly, thanks to all of you for taking some trash home. We generate this trash as a camp; we need to deal with its removal from the Playa as a Community. Because of your efforts and commitment and Love of Community Trash…We transported ZERO bags of trash off the Playa in the truck back to Phoenix. We did have 7 buckets of general slop, generator oil, left over food stuff slop, the remnants of many a thing on the Playa.
Thanks to all the PolyCampers that stayed till Tuesday and took any remaining trash bags Off-Playa.
Post-Playa there was some major discussion on our FB Group about kitchen issues with a few areas being called out. There was discussion about the long lines for food and that we might benefit from making the serving line on both sides of the table. In discussions with our kitchen staff we feel this would just not work and actually create additional bottlenecks in getting the masses the food. There are going to be long lines in serving a 297 person camp. I realize that some people cannot stand in line for as long as required - I call upon YOU the campers to assist others that might need assistance in getting a plate of food.
There was also discussion that at some meals not everyone got food that wanted/needed to eat and that maybe we needed to raise the minimum amount that each person cooks from 25 to 35 portions. Of course I want every camper to be able to get something to eat but what I do not want is that we actually have any leftovers in any meal as leftovers are difficult to store.
Please look over the notes provided by our Kitchen Biatches below.
****Kitchen Biatches Notes ala Knotch & Shadow****
PP Kitchen Lessons Learned 2018 - What went right and what went wrong observations in no particular order:
1. Need around 13 to 14 (5-gallon) buckets for kitchen: 6 for hand washing stations, 4 with lids for slop buckets, 3 or 4 available for people to fill with donated cooler water for dishwashing use.
2. Need a couple more of the quick read stem thermometers (only saw one this year). We have plenty of the large meat thermometers.
3. Need soap for dishwashing.
4. Need new chlorine test strips.
5. Need new Clorox bleach. Old bottles are weak.
6. Need to replace one collapsible garbage can for the kitchen. Only found two and normally have three.
7. Need bottles of hand soap for the three hand washing stations. We ran out. Someone donated an 8 oz bottle of Renew Hand Wash and I put it on one of the stations. It lasted the entire burn!!! It was used a lot. I used it every time and I washed a lot. One little 8 oz bottle. It is expensive but I think worth it. Melaleuca Renew Hand Wash 8 Oz.
8. 100 cup coffee pot
9. Need plastic kitchen prep gloves. Ran out.
10. Plates, bowls, forks, spoons, knives, napkins were adequate. No shortages.
11. Having both rolls of paper towels and the folded packs of napkins were good.
12. Clorox wipes are still the best table cleaners I have found. Restock.
13. Can we get this knife sharpener? I brought my personal one like this and it works great. Rich said it was one of the best he has ever used also. Smith's adjustable manual knife sharpener.
14. Think about a heavy duty macerator pump for dish water sump. If we had this food waste solids could be macerated and pumped with dirty dishwashing water into gray tanks. Might also keep the garbage a little lighter and less juicy and messy.
15. Restock supply of table clothes.
16. More Gorilla tape and orange duck tape. Used for holding tablecloths onto tables and orange tape for labeling bins.
17. Maybe spend more time at the clean-up party inventorying, sorting and labeling kitchen supply stock. Spoons, forks, napkins etc. were found as onesies scattered in many many bins. Shadow, Laura and I will concentrate more on this at the March cleaning party.
18. The dish washing sink (soap wash) drain hose has a split and needs repair.
19. Have a couple lengths of drain pipe cut and ready as spares to replace leaking ones if needed.
20. Sinks on crates were a good height. No changes.
21. Dish drying used two of the metal racks and worked great. No changes.
22. Large grill needs reworked. Left side stopped working. Possibly regulators are bad.
23. Mods to griddle pans for allowing grease to drain worked good on both grills.
24. Wire racks were adequate even though all could not be completed with all shelves. The new couplers did not work - wrong threads I believe.
25. Kitchen/garbage/cooler storage layout was GREAT! Keep it this way if possible.
26. Single line of tables across serving line (as it has been for years) works good (regardless of complaints by a few). I vote to keep it the way it was.
27. As you can see this is a short report compared to year before last. Thank you for tending to notes from our 2017 Lessons Learned so this 2018 one is so short!
28. Kitchen Bitches combined opinions: Would not raise the meal serving request higher than the 25 it currently is. We still have leftover waste but it is minimal. Meals are a gift and not an entitlement granted by camp fee. Better to leave the requirement as is and not have a lot of waste than raising it and having a lot of food waste to dispose of.
****Community Meals****
In 2018 PolyParadise had a Community related ‘Requirement’ upon registration, a choice of being part of cooking & sharing a meal for 25. The meals and the variety of all things cooked were amazing!!!! There was never a want for food, there were always choices.
Special callout to everyone that assisted in the creation of Trash Can Pizza on Tuesday, Of course to UncleBob for coming up with this crazy idea. Thanks to for everyone that assisted with Trash Can Turkey and a HUGE Thanks to the crew for jumping right in and carving up all that turkeys (90bs of BIRD) while an anxious crowd awaited food…Amazing!!
Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to the planning, cooking, serving & cleanup of each and every meal. For when we share a meal and break bread together we grow from just being friends to being FAMILY!
Over the years campers have mentioned to me that they arrived for a meal and there was not enough food for them or that they saw some campers going back for seconds and when they had not gotten any food. I understand your complaints - meal times are set at two hour intervals 8:00a-10:00a 12:00p-2:00p 6:00p-8:00p - Policing who gets in line and how many times is not where we are headed. There are two possible solutions to make sure you get food - Get to meal times ON TIME or see that there is not enough food and STEP UP and be part of the solution which is to Cook an additional meal for the community. Remember meals are not included in the Camp Fee; they are a GIFT to the Community.
****Community Space****
The space itself was awesome, area for chairs, crash space and the massage tables. Thanks again to Dr. J for that wonderful gift to the community, it has lasted 8yrs now and shows a few minor tears in the material but no major structural damage. Thanks to JustJack for donating a 2nd massage table - amazing and AWESOME!!
The space worked out well with the Community Space, Serving Area, and Kitchen all just one big connected space, so that the straight edge met instead of at the peak. The space measured 100’x40’, we used tarps to 'Wall Off' 20' (10' on either side), having a 20' opening (in the middle) between the two structures to better manage wind thru the kitchen.
The community space 60'x60' was incredible and well utilized. The extra space allowed us to be able to setup a Clothing Exchange area - additional room for more campers to sit & eat within the community space at once. Because of the limited room we had on the frontage of Electro we made an L with the 3rd 20'x40'; I actually liked the way it was setup.
The Popcorn Machine & late night movies were a big hit and will certainly be back in 2019. I know I had an awesome time watching movies and munching popcorn - I hope all of you did too. I am gathering additional movies titles to be available in 2019.
The space really kicked ass at night. The move to using all Rope Light to light the Kitchen and Community space was amazing!! It gave off the just enough ambient light.
I think we may be at a place where an additional 20'x40' might be in order for our Community Space area so that there is more room for all of our campers to sit & chat and of course to have dinner together.
****Playa Events****
This was an amazing year for PolyParadise Playa Events. We had lots of amazing events that drew large crowds each day.
Our Playa Events - Poly High Tea - Human Carcass Wash - Mind Melt - Poly Friendly Social Mixer, Burning On Your Mind: An Open Mic About Burning Man, Hugging Meditation, Yoga Postures for 2, Mindful Hugging, Best sex living with STD's, SWOP (Sex Worker Outreach Program) Unite!, Slinky Manipulation 101: The World's Newest Flow Art, Pasties Making Workshop, Himalayan Singing Bowls and of course EVERY NIGHT @ THE TWISTED SWAN!!!
Major Kudos to the organizers of all of our Playa Events. You all are aces in my book!!! Thanks to everyone who assisted in each and every event. The events are as much for us as a camp as well as sharing with the Playa Citizenry.
The Human Carcass Wash encompassed a full 60’x40’ structure. Long gone are the days from circa 2001 when the HCW was a 5'x7' piece of Astroturf. With this additional space the HCW now serves well over 500 participants daily!!! Freakin INCREDIBLE!!!
****Poly Dome****
A huge shootout to Tailfeather and his drama filled travels to Burning Man 2018 and his perseverance to try and make the Playa. So the dome did not make it and our campers found other places for group sexual exploration. It is my feeling for the land area the 28ft dome takes up it is way under utilized as a collective sexual space. In conversations with Tailfeather his is committed to bringing back the dome and the top platform it allows. I am all for that but we are going to change what that space represents. In a year of The Theme being Metamorphosis the dome will become an Arts & Maker Space with many more details to be announced. I highly encourage you to volunteer with Tailfeather for erection & dismantle of the dome as many hands makes light work & then Johnny can play!!!
****Poly Shower****
Major kudos for another year goes to Twist for the shower base & frame that we have been using since 2008. The new coat of Epoxy Paint we installed the previous year continued to work great. Major thanks to Rich, Cactusman and crew for tackling ripping out the original floor mounts for the poles and installing new 1" footpads. These larger footpads allowed us to raise the height of the enclosure to 10'. Major Kudos to Cactusman for coming up with an ingenious pulley system to be able to raise & lower the shower bags. It worked GREAT!!!
A possible culprit to our yellow spot on the MOOP Map may be the shower area as we had water spillage when filling up the shower bags. A solution may be to use the canvas tarps underneath the entire shower area and see how that might mitigate this issue.
For 2019 we will need to fashion a new set of stairs (With handrail) to make it easier for our campers to navigate and get up & down safely. KUDOS in advance to Richard who will lead this efforts @ the Work Weekend in March.
****Leave No Trace****
PolyParadise has always prided itself on its Cleanup & Recycle efforts. The 2018 MOOP Map shows we had a single YELLOW spot and two RED spots near the 8:00 RV Line for our 350'x440' (3.53 acres) space was amazing!!! This space appears to be near the shower/gray water area. This year Playa Restoration gave a link to submit questions on Yellow/Red areas within a camp space - I submitted that request but as of this writing I have not hear back as to what that Yellow spot may indicate. Thanks to all that MOOPED all week and to anyone and everyone that stayed thru Wednesday and being the last off the Playa and for making sure that our LNT efforts would in fact be as GREEN as possible!!
We did have several visits from the Earth Guardians in which they schooled us in two areas. Proper placement of Gas Cans (Not on the Playa surface, as this was a major push from the BLM) and our Gray Water area. We did have an incident where the hose from the sink came out of the Gray Water Tank and spilled dirty water on the Playa. To better deal with this in 2019 we will need a cinder block to keep the hose inside the tank and the entire Gray Water, Shower area & the entire sink area will be placed on top of tarp and canvas flooring to better capture this dirty water if a spill were to occur.
We need to strive for ALL GREEN in 2019!!!
 |
 |
| PolyParadise 2018 MOOP Map | PolyParadise 2017 MOOP Map |
 |
 |
| PolyParadise 2016 MOOP Map | PolyParadise 2015 MOOP Map |
 |
 |
| PolyParadise 2014 MOOP Map | PolyParadise 2013 MOOP Map |
 |
 |
| PolyParadise 2012 MOOP Map | Playa Restoration |
We found out when we were on the way to the Playa that the BLM was requiring gasoline containment. MAJOR Kudos to Rich for picking up the kiddy pools. It is also a requirement that all RVS that bring gasoline for their generators MUST have the same gasoline containment. Regardless of the size requirement they take up they are a necessity - we will invest in a multitude of the smaller pools for RV Gas containment but I HIGHLY encourage all RV's to provide a kiddy pool or non-pours container for your gasoline (Wrapped in Tarps does NOT meet the requirement).
 |
 |
|
We did receive several visits via LNT representatives, Rangers and Playa Restoration in order to deal with the spill @ the Gray Water Tank when the hose came out and sprayed the Playa with Dirty Water. I was impressed with their responsiveness to situations they were on the lookout for - MAJOR Kudos for their service to Black Rock City. As always we need to be as vigilant as we can to never need their intervention on our behalf.
****Survival Guide****
2018 marked 10 years of the PolyParadise Survival Guide. The survival guide was emailed to all campers upon registration and was available via the web site for review. I hope that each of you found it useful.
****Gray Water Reclamation****
Our Gray Water disposal with the drain system for the sink and the shower that emptied into the holding tanks were provided by United Site Services. This system provides us as a camp a no-worry way to deal with the Gray Water issue.
In 2018 we contracted with United Site Services to provide Grey Water Reclamation Services. We rented (4) 250G tanks (The largest USS rents) - three were for PolyParadise & one was for the Twisted Swan. Our contract was for Servicing the tanks Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday. Over course of the week I estimate we generated just about 1,500 Gallons of Gray Water. We are not the only camp that deals with issues in making sure we get the tanks emptied when we need them but of course USS is the only game in town so we are at thier mercy.
****Water – Water - Water****
In the desert water is a commodity – it is used to cook – clean posts/pans & dishes, starter for the Human Carcass Wash and of course for taking a shower. As a camp we require each vehicle in camp to donate 5 gallons of water to assist with our water supply as a camp. We obviously use a lot of water to do these tasks; even if we had 75 vehicles all bringing 5 Gallons of water that is only 375 gallons to add to the 100 that we bring in the U-Haul.
Some people have suggested that we get potable water delivered so that the amount of water is not an issue and do away with the requirement of the water donation and eliminate a lot of plastic waste. My opinion is that we need to remember that Burning Man is a desert camping trip and part of its ethos is we bring what we need to consume and take away what we use. Each camper manages their own water and as a Theme Camp we need to do the same.
We most certainly need water for making Coffee - we need water for washing dishes - I really do not want to have a water delivery and take us away from knowing we need to be self-sufficient - In that vein I highly encourage - if you have the means & space to bring additional water for camp use it would be appreciated.
****Garbage, Garbage, Garbage****
Many Many thanks to STAGGER for again heading up all things Garbage Czar for stepping up and taking on the role of TRASH! We very much appreciate his dedication to the ART OF GARBAGE and doing quite a bit of travel to come to the Playa for the start - setup the garbage collection area - leave the playa - come back to PolyParadise at the end of the week and make the distribution of Community Garbage to all campers - I LOVE YOU MAN!!!
Since the Trash is generated by the community - our camp requirement is for each vehicle to take two bags of Trash Off-Playa...Thanks to Stagger for making it easy with double-bagged/tapped/labeled bags for each of us. Were you surprised to find your personal bag-o-trash at your vehicle :) Major kudos to anyone and everyone that transported more than one bag, you are aces in my book!!
We do generate quite a bit of 'Burnable Garbage' we compacted the Burnable bags / wrapping them up tightly with gorilla tape & transported off-playa like other plastic bag garbage. This appeared to work well. I hope that you are all depositing this garbage in the proper receptacles off-playa.
I encourage all campers to check in with Stagger and see how you might assist him in the managing of the garbage - Community Generated - Community Managed.
We are noticing that each year we are getting more campers that are entering Black Rock City via the Burner Express bus service. With this accommodation you receive a Clear Plastic MOOP BAG that you can bring back on your way home. We highly encourage all campers that use the Burner Express Bus Service to bring their MOOP BAG to STAGGER so he can properly fill them for you to transport off-playa.
***** 2018 Garbage Czar Report ****
I am so happy to report that Poly Paradise’s garbage situation this year went extremely well compared to some years past.
Due to medical issues with my wife I was not able to spend the entire week at PolyParadise. That said, folks stepped up and when I came back to the playa the garbage area was in great shape.
Filled bags were not overstuffed and stacked neatly in the back of the area. Cardboard was separated and ready to bundle.
Delivery was smooth and, though I had to leave earlier than normal, things were under control during breakdown.
Thanks everyone who took care of monitoring the trash while I was not there. 2018 was a garbage success.
****20th Anniversary Art Project****
Thanks to Atira, Armella, Rich, Uncle Bob, Tattletale & ALL CAMPERS that assisted in creating, erecting our 20th Anniversary Man/Heart/Infinity Symbol Art Project - Special callout to Ian Liljeblad for allowing us to utilize his talents and Plasma Cutter to create the Art Piece. SPECIAL CALLOUT to Master Twist who came up with the ingenious idea to use magnets to be able to secure the LED Light Strips to the Metal Man.
 |
 |
|
For 2019 we will make a few adjustments to the Art Piece: Extend the Heart/Infinity symbol on both sides of the man out approx. 8 Inches from the Man and secure that straight thru to the other side to give more stability to the Art Piece in general and give a neat depth effect. We will also purchase additional LED Lights to outline the Heart Infinity Symbol separate from the man as well as upgrade the the controller to give us additional modes/patterns of LED Light along the entire structure.
Think as well that maybe we do a 2nd Art Project with the same type of lighting truss that spells out PolyParadise with 1Ft Wood Letters that we could light up and have as the entrance way that could be walked under/thru - though this is just a thought...What say you all?
****Early Arrival & Exodus****
Early Arrival - Many, Many thanks to all of our Early Arrival crew. Kudos go out to all of you for your tireless efforts to get the camp erected and all system connected. You guys ROCK!!!
The crew was awesome!!! We rocked the house and had the entire infrastructure up & functional by Sunday morning. I thank you all so much for doing what needed to be done, being out in the Sun & Dust; making PolyParadise happen On-Playa!!!
We set the camp up over several days, but we take it down in just a few hours, it is a massive undertaking that requires lots & lots of hands. You cannot be 'Required' to stay and assist with breakdown, but know that each and every one of you that did help is so very much appreciated. This year’s crew was incredible. Thank you all so much for doing the dirty work and being there to pack away our community for another year.
We again stayed until Tuesday morning; this allowed for a more cohesive teardown & truck packing and my. We had a great time with the folks that stayed and many thanks to everyone that did the last of the MOOP WALK. throughout our camp space.
****Those Amazing AZBurners****
BIG BIG Kudos - To our fellow AZBurners who are always available to assist during the year; for Truck Loading & Unpacking; carrying, cleaning, sorting and building PolyParadise year-round here in Phoenix. Special Thanks to (UncleBob, Rich, Poje, Big Phreeky, Alien, Sarge, Kilted James, The Doctor, Cobalt, Armella, Paul, Corvus, Sandman, Cactus Man, Raymond, Atira, Cobalt, Rich, Knotch, Shadow, Fancy Nancy, Neefer, JimyMac, Dr. Dirt, Daniel, Tequila Mike, Tony, Sunshine, Rich, Diane, Dance Boy, Laura, Cole, Chaz, Dr. Liz) Back in the day circa 2006 it was only WildChild & I that represented Arizona in PolyParadise. It is amazing to have had 37 AZBurners in our camp this year. You are all ACES in my book!!! Thank you all so very much!!!
****Annual Work-Party****
Another Playa year is upon us; PolyParadise will be celebrating 21 years within the gates of Black Rock City in 2019.
Running a large Theme Camp is a year-round process and requires participation by many people, especially at our annual Spring Work-Party. This is where we take the contents of our garage, all the PolyParadise Playa Gear, and clean, sort and other wise inventory what we have and what we need...making an assessment of what we have, what broke & what needs replacing.
PolyParadise will be having its annual Work Party (Clean Scotto & WildChild's Garage & thus the PolyParadise Playa Gear) on Saturday March 16, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona starting at 10a.....You are welcome to come for the day or the weekend...We have enough room to accommodate a few overnighters and can set up tents in the backyard.
Once we have cleaned the PolyParadise Playa Gear and are sufficiently covered in Playa Dust, there is a Hot Tub and of course if it is warm enough, or anybody is adventurous enough, we now have a pool; we can PARTY!!!
WildChild & I would like to thank the PolyParadise Work-Party 2018 Crew:
 |
Thanks as well to our dogs: Toby & Sammy for keeping us all entertained., we certainly hope we can entice all of you back again this year.
Of course you are all welcome to come to Phoenix and join us, just drop me a line.
We promise to take lots of pics as we sort & clean the Playa Gear and get our garage in some semblance of Playa order.
****Generator Power****
When it comes to the camp’s Generation and use of highly charged electrons, there is someone who needs special THANKS!!! TWIST!!! Hats off to you my Right Hand Man & Rocket Scientist!!!!
This year we rented a Honda EU 7000 generator; in conjunction with our 2500W Battery Backup system. This system created by TWIST! worked AMAZING!! Over the summer TWIST also reworked the 2,500W Battery Backup system that made it way easier to transport and in & off the truck for transport - it worked amazing!!!!
The Battery System weighs over 300lbs - the wheel base of the cart it is on needed work and instead of fixing the current cart - MASTERTWIST will be updating the cart on a newly purchased motorized wheelchair - ALL HAIL MASTERTWIST who will hopefully be making Playa Land Fall in 2019 after a 11yr hiatus. All Hail Master-Twist!!!!! Your Master Skills as a Rocket Scientist have no gone unnoticed.
This system in conjunction with the new Yellow Distribution box/cords/cables we were able to provide a way for us to have continual power to the Shower & Sink pumps and critical lights within the Kitchen & Community space when the Generator was off or had run out of gas.
Thanks so much to Rich for taking on the electrical grid - You are a credit to your skills and am always in awe of making sense of the spaghetti of cords. All Hail Master-Twist & Rich!!!!!
****Burning Man Tickets 2019****
The distribution of tickets for Burning Man 2019 has yet to be announced:
Burning Man Ticket Page http://tickets.burningman.org/ for details.
Registration for tickets will be thru your Burner Profile:
https://profiles.burningman.com/wp-login.php
As a Theme Camp we do get to participate in the Directed Sale - The available slots in this sale are reserved for our key crew as well as new additions each year.
****Camping Fee - 2019****
Our only source of income to cover the costs of bringing PolyParadise to Black Rock City each year is thru the Camp Fee. In 2018 we established a camping fee of $175/person.
We did end 2018 with a positive balance of $857. The money will be used to purchase the additional infrastructure we need as a Theme Camp.
There are several items that need replacing | upgrading including: Replace several 20'x40 Tarps, additional Canvas Tarps and I am sure lots of other items - The Fee for Camping with PolyParadise 2019 will remain $175/person.
Registration for PolyParadise will begin on March 1, 2019...
Because of the income reporting changes made by PayPal I am no longer be able to accept payment for camp fees via said PayPal. Camp Fees in 2019 must be paid via check or money order. Bottom line if your check BOUNCES please plan on camping elsewhere.
****Scotto Speak****
2018 was my 19th Burn and my 17th serving as Camp Daddy, Benevolent Dictator of PolyParadise. We gather together from all corners of the globe to share, learn & grow - a passion & commitment to Community and lifelong friendships created on the hallowed grounds of BRC and within the borders of PolyParadise. I cannot imagine my life without Burning Man or PolyParadise. I thank you all for being part of it all with me.
The Burning Man/PolyParadise experience is different for each person. It is my hope that each of you felt you had a home & a family within the borders of PolyParadise and that each one of you had the MOST AWESOME TIME EVER!!! I hope that if you return to Burning Man again, you will camp with us and again help create the Community we love, PolyParadise in BRC!
My overall assessment of our camp is that after 20yrs we have this Playa thing down pretty good. Rinse - Repeat - Revise. We provide a great home within the Gates of BRC, a drama free space with an amazing Community Space/Kitchen, Events area, The HUMAN CARCASS WASH, Shower and of course the power of family & friends.
There is an extra special Callout; reserved to my Life Partner, Wife, Friend & companion, WildChild. You teach me each day the value of a Big Heart and are constantly there all year long with a smile, encouragement and new ideas to make the Burning Man/PolyParadise experience better & better each year. You are there to meet each challenge, you are there for our campers and most importantly you are there for me, I am forever yours.
Again, it has been my pleasure and honor serve as your Camp Daddy (Benevolent Dictator). Each year brings a different set of challenges, a different set of lessons to be had & learned or stumbled upon; you just never know what the Playa will bring....
We will learn from our mistakes, we will again come alive with The Village of PolyParadise, Version 21, it will be better than ever!!!
August 29 - September 6 - 2021 - 240 Days left till Burning Man!
Scotto
- Camp Daddy
- Benevolent Dictator Village of PolyParadise
- Burning Man Lifer/Geek/Zealot