PolyParadise - 2013 - What Worked

Year Review Kitchen Playa Events Leave No Trace Infrastructure Gray Water / Trash Survival Guide Early / Exodus AZBurners Work-Party Power / Tools Tickets / Fee Closing

Sunday December 29, 2013

Each year this is my space to reflect on the year that was in Black Rock City ala 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 2014. This was the 15th 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 15th Anniversary 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, generate some chatter; let's get PSYCHED!!! 244 Days!!

In 2013 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 Stephanie, Patrick, Tigrezz and 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. With the six (6) 3-Burner Cast Iron stoves, we had plenty of cooking surface area. We had plenty of snacks for everyone, and all seemed satisfied with the selections available.

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. 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 Kitchen/Serving Area & Community Space were (2) 40’x40’ structures oriented the same as in 2012 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 two structures to better manage wind thru the kitchen. It Worked AMAZING and also gave us the two corner areas that housed the shelving with the snacks, pots & pans and the other side was the coffee tea area as well as coffee pot, toaster & microwave. I thought this worked as I envisioned and will certainly be our setup in the future.

The Event Space was supposed to be 40'x40' - I had miscalculated the number of additional hardware pieces we needed to purchase from the previous year so the event space was a 20'x40' with an additional 20'x20'. It worked OK, but was far from ideal as the additional cove was nice but was not fully utilized for our events. I will endeavor to purchase the correct additional shade hardware to make the event space a full 40'x40'..

The Human Carcass Wash a full 40’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 ~350 participants daily!!! Freakin INCREDIBLE!!!

In 2013 we were required to apply for and adhere to the standards of a Nevada State Health Department Food Permit. This was the third 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.

During then inspection we received HIGH MARKS for our kitchen layout and accoutrements for safe food handling & preparation. The only area we were told we could do better was with the Sanitizing station. Instead of using the standard Bleach Testing Kit we had purchased it was suggested we use a different Test Strip method to better measure the Bleach Concentration of the sanitizing mixture. They were kind enough to give us information to make this purchase for 2014.

They were very impressed with the Foot Pump/Hand Washing Station 2.0 - Our hats OFF to Mark for coming up with the idea and its ever changing design. VERY WELL DONE!!!

Other than those things we passed with flying colors. Again thanks to Stephanie and all her helpers in keeping the kitchen clean & organized all week long.

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 2014.

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 2014 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 5 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.

****PolyParadise****

PolyParadise's population increased by 18 campers in 2013, to an On-Playa total of 183 Campers.

We had 95 veteran campers return and 88 new campers and of that number 55 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. We had 13 International campers from (Canada, Germany, Israel, New Zealand, Mexico, Switzerland & England).

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 PolyParadise Resident.

Our 2013 Playa dimensions were amazing - with the addition of 9 Energies as an embedded Theme Camp within PolyParadise we were 550' x 200'. We did not get the corner of 5:00 this year but very much enjoyed being much of that block. With efficient placement of vehicles in vertical rows between Biggie Size & Consumer we had defined walkways thru camp that 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; Except me at times:) So Thanks to all of YOU!!!

Congratulations to Amanda aka Watercolor for becoming a BRC Ranger. It was very fun to STOMP on your hat!!! We all appreciate your effort & service to the greater good of the Playa Citizenry; know we are proud of you both.

****Playa Location****

In our Theme Camp Registration we asked for 5:00 & A-to-B streets but of course ended with a Mapped Location of 4:45 between Biggie Size & Consumer. I thought our placement was ideal - incredible & amazing. Porto Potties were very close C-to-D on the 4:00 & 4:30 sides. We had great neighbors with whom we shared with all week. We had awesome foot traffic in our Community Space and incredible attendance at all of our camp events. I would certainly be in favor of asking for the same Playa Location for 2014.

What were your impressions of 4:45 between Biggie Size & Consumer -

****Community Space****

The space itself was awesome, area for chairs, pillows, crash space and the massage table. Thanks again to Dr. J for that wonderful gift to the community, it has lasted 5yrs now and shows no major wear but one tear in the fabric.

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 80’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 space really kicked ass at night. With all the lights, the Glow Stick Arches, Rope Light…It was really an awesome sight!! Thanks to everyone that helped create such an amazing space.