Saturday December 21, 2019

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 2020. This was the 21st 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 Year/Week long. I thank you all for being part of the 21st 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!!! 252 Days!!!

****PolyParadise****

The total population of the PolyParadise On-Playa was 265 Campers. We thank the Twisted Swan & The Temple of Bacchus for being part of our Village; adding in their 80 Campers we had a total of 345 Campers within the Village - WOW!!!!!

We had 130 veteran campers return and 135 new campers and of that number 77 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 65 International campers from (Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Mexico, New Zealand, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland).

We did end 2019 with a negative balance of $1,350. The deficit was incurred by the 2nd Truck Rental & Gas. Thanks to the generosity of our campers we have received monies to cover the 2019 budget deficit and have a nest egg for the Work-Party in 2020.

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 and that everyone had an amazing time as a Village of PolyParadise Resident.

Our 2019 Playa dimensions was 350'x440'. The Twisted Swan & Temple of Bacchus were included within that space; they were allocated a 100'x170' 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 Echo & Ganymede. 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 2019 we were mapped @ 8:15 Echo to Ganymede 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; as it is a requirement for us to have interactivity on both road frontages we are given by placement. 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.

Because of our large Playa Footprint there are only two areas of BRC that will accommodate that size - The 4:15 or 8:15 side of BRC. 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 2020 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 - Echo to Ganymede -

****Community Space****

In 2019 we added an additional 20'x40' structure to the Community Space. This not only allowed for additional space for campers to sit and mingle and or eat but it also provided a separate space out of the kitchen area for the coffee station. This allowed for a better flow within the kitchen area just for cooking. The extra space also allowed us to hang the Volunteer Poster Boards and Menu Boards outside the kitchen which in turn allowed for better flow in the kitchen only for cooking. With the additional 20'x40' the dimensions of the community space was 80'x40' with an additional 5th 20'x40' towards the street frontage for the Clothing Exchange and two massage tables. This layout works quite well.

The additional shade structure also allowed for a larger area for the Walkway - PolyParadise blacklight sign - Camp Signs - Bike Racks and Fire Pit.

The Popcorn Machine & late night movies were a big hit and will certainly be back in 2020. We will make some adjustments to the way the speakers get setup so they all work as expected. 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 2020.

The space really kicked ass at night. The move a few years ago to using all Rope Light to light the Kitchen and Community space was amazing!! It gave off the just enough ambient light.

Setting up (12) 20'x40's; all of our shade structures is quite the feat and requires not only a large commitment of time but also people power. We have always used the 18" rebar with the eye bolts to secure the structure to the ratchet straps - they work well but number +200 and for the time it takes to pound them into the Playa - get them out of the Playa - possible injury while using a sledge hammer - this year we did an experiment with Lag Bolts. They worked quite well and with the use of an Impact Driver go IN & OUT of the Playa way easier than the rebar.

For 2020 we will be investing the necessary camp fees towards purchasing 200+ Lag Bolts and multiple Impact Drivers to make the setup | teardown of the (12) 20'x40's shade structures that much easier on the Early Arrival Crew & Teardown Crew. ***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, Building Non-Traditional Households, TLC Yoga, Mindful Hugging, Best sex living with STD's, Acting Class | Playa Persona Parade Ethical Slut - Meet & Greet, Yoga Postures for 2 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. We also have a more defined area available for bikes to get them off the road - With this additional space the HCW now serves well over 500 participants daily!!! Freakin INCREDIBLE!!!

****Kitchen & Stuff****

In 2019 The Village of 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 & LauraZ 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. We added (2) additional 3-Burner Cast Iron stoves, for a total of (8) to accommodate a larger number of pots on said stoves.

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. I do think we need a smaller amount of Breakfast Type Bars and more Chip type snacks as they seem to be consumed on a faster basis than any other snack.

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!!!

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 dish/pot 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. Putting the sink gray water containment inside a Kiddy Pool to minimize leakage/spills to the playa worked well. We may need to purchase new Sump Pumps for the basins and come up with a way to better secure and raise the floats on the pumps so one does not have to stick their hand in the muck to get the pump to turn on.

The Kitchen/Serving Area Space was (2) 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.

The commercial type coffee maker that has one brew station and two warmer stations worked well but we did need an additional 100cup to make up the difference; the problem with the large 100cup is that it takes quite a bit of time to heat/brew that much water. For 2020 we will purchase an additional commercial type coffee maker that has one brew station and two warmer stations - This way there will be coffee always available with two 12-cups brewing.

For those that choose to be Nude (Male & Female) - Your Bottom MUST BE COVERED while cooking or when in the food serving line.

In 2019 we were required to apply for and adhere to the standards of a Nevada State Health Department Food Permit. This was the 7th 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 Thursday 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.

We always need to strive to have those preparing meals to wear the Food Handler Gloves: 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! Our hats OFF to our Kitchen Biatches Knotch, Shadow & LauraZ!!!

In-fact we got this kitchen thang down so well that the Nevada State Health Dept asked our permission to film the inspection and use the footage for promotion of "This is how you do a large kitchen RIGHT @ Burning Man" A JOB WELL DONE BY ALL!!!

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 2020.

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 2020 WE HAVE SYRUP, no need to bring anymore.

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 2019:

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!!

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.

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.

Our Garbage Czar 'STAGGER' has indicated that he will not be returning to BRC in 2020 so we will be putting a callout for a new Garbage Czar & helpers in the coming months.

Thanks to all the PolyCampers that stayed till Tuesday and took any remaining trash bags Off-Playa.

Please look over the notes provided by our Kitchen Biatches below.

****Kitchen Biatches Notes ala Knotch | Shadow | LauraZ****

PP Kitchen Lessons Learned 2019 - What went right and what went wrong observations in no particular order:

1. New kitchen layout is GREAT! Really like the separate, extra space that gets the coffee and drink area out of the kitchen serving area.
2. Racks against the side for paper and plastic utensils/products up front near the serving table is great.
3. Foaming hand soap from pump container for hand washing station is the way to go. Instead of the expensive brand we got in 2019, let's try getting 6 Dial foaming hand washing soap pumps and 4 large bottles of refill soap instead. Should be a LOT cheaper and work just as well.
4. Dish washing sinks, drains, etc. worked good. Putting the sinks on the crates for added height worked well.
5. Check function of sump pump float operation. It failed to activate and overflowed into catch pool once.
6. Kiddy pool for catch basin around sump pump container worked great.
7. No issues with grill or griddle or regulators this year.
8. Check on stock of plastic table covers.
9. Using the side area of the PP kitchen for Scotto provided community meal items in kitchen was great idea. The health inspectors were satisfied as they had community meal coolers to inspect and LauraZ (Ice Angel) had them well chilled with ice all the time. The health inspectors did not even look at the other personal coolers once I pointed out the Scotto community coolers and told them all the other coolers were campers personal coolers and we just provided a shaded area for the campers to store their coolers.
10. Bunn style coffee maker (I was informed) could not keep up during early morning. It served its purpose though because it satisfied campers until the 100 cup percolator could do its job. The 100 cup percolator is still needed to handle morning coffee drinkers.
11. Camp should purchase a couple sturdy metal hand colanders. They work great for pasta and potatoes and help prevent steam burns by cooks trying to pour scalding water from pots. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000SAC00A/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image - ie=UTF8&psc=1
12. Don't think we need more stoves unless for spares.
13. Shelf units still required a couple to be pieced together with a shelf or two missing but number of units was adequate.
14. (Done - I took care of this one already) Need more small and regular size tongs (some breaking and just more inventory).
15. Buy more boxes of kitchen prep gloves - buy a few more boxes than what has been ordered in the past. Still had to ration them at the end to keep from running out.
16. Separate big kitchen meal events. Pizza and Chicago Dog nights should be separated to different evenings if possible.
17. Encourage meal gifters to prepare/assemble sandwiches/hotdogs/burgers and serve them. Campers building them in line hangs up the line too badly.
18. Having a working clock in kitchen is great.

****Community Meals****

In 2019 PolyParadise had a Community related ‘Requirement’ upon registration, cooking & sharing a meal for 25. The meals and the variety of all things cooked were amazing!!!!

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.

This appears to be primarily a Dinner issue as that appears to be the meal we get the most campers in attendance. Raising the minimum amount that each person cooks from 25 to 35 portions I feel will create waste and leftovers that we cannot store and of course is an additional financial burden on all campers as the meals are in addition to the camp fees.

The immediate solution is that our pantry has lots of FOOD (Tuna - Pasta - Beans - Macaroni & Cheese) of course that would need to be prepared in order to feed those that are still in line. Much of this pantry food has come back from the playa to Phoenix; as much as I enjoy using that food in the ensuing months @ my house I would rather it is used On-Playa in these situations.

We already have in place additional campers who sign up to assist our Kitchen Biatches- we may need to ask those volunteers to assess that for there is not going to be enough food available and to take items from the pantry and create a few items. The other remedy might be to have a few additional campers step up to do an additional dinner meal. Remember meals are not included in the Camp Fee; they are a GIFT to the Community.

The Kitchen Biatches have asked that Trash Can Pizza & The Boyz from Illinois Chicago Dog night be on different days per limited space within the kitchen. I will be working with my Charcoal Czar to see if moving Trash Can Pizza to a different day or meal time will be a burden.

Another word about Coolers... From Phoenix we pack 14 coolers with Community Food that includes (Turkeys, Tri-Tip, Salmon, Chicken, Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, Lunch Meat, Frozen Fruit, Chocolate, Butter and Fried Food). Over the course of the week in 2019 we spent as a camp $600 in ice purchases to keep said Frozen Food Frozen and or cold enough to be safe.

For 2020 we are considering purchasing a 24 cu. ft. Chest Freezer to keep those items. This would make it easier to pack here in Phx before leaving for the Playa as we would use the same amount of Ice/Dry Ice that we used in the coolers within the Freezer Unit and will stay Frozen/Cold until we get to Playa and be able to hook up to Electrons. This would eliminate the need for that daily ice purchase and the unit would cost about the same as said total ice purchase the first year.

We would still have the coolers on-playa to be able to store purchased ice that has not been claimed and be able to keep that ice as ice until claimed.

****Leave No Trace****

PolyParadise has always prided itself on its Cleanup & Recycle efforts. The 2019 MOOP Map Low Resolution image appears to show us as all GREEN but we will not know of our real efforts until the high resolution image is available in the new year for our 350'x440' (3.53 acres). Thanks to all that MOOPED all week and to anyone and everyone that stayed on into Tuesday afternoon and being the last off the Playa and for making sure that our LNT efforts would in fact be as GREEN as possible!!

We WILL to strive for ALL GREEN in 2020!!!

For 2021 our MOOP MAP Footprint goal is ALL GREEN - we can ALWAYS be more MOOP vigilant; not just in our own camp space but Playa-Wide. 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!

We did have a visit from the Earth Guardians; they were satisfied with our Fuel area and the containment system between the two trucks. The arrangement of the two trucks allowed us to have a work area as well as the fuel storage.

No matter what type of barrier I put up between the two trucks to indicate this was not a thru fare as I saw multiple people walking thru this area - Need to get better signage to block this area off for safety reasons.

We did purchase additional kiddy pools for RV Gas containment but I did not distribute them as I should have to said RV's. Will do better with that in 2021. We did place the three gray water tanks under a canvas tarps that allowed us to contain any leakage. We did have a small spill but that was due to improper valve covers given to us by United Site Services - I will need to be more diligent when they are dropped of to make sure all the proper fittings are there so this issue can be eliminated.

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 2,500 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 their mercy.

When USS comes to service the tanks (whatever time that day they get there - cause it's Playa Time) - They will not empty the tank if we do not have the pre-paid vouchers available. Need to have those vouchers in an area near the kitchen that is safe and readily available when they get there so whomever is there can provide the vouchers.

As part of our contract with USS we pre-pay for (21) RV Service Slots - These are pre-paid via RV campers for either Thursday - Friday - Saturday service. We distribute a placard per RV Service Day & the USS Voucher. Being Radically Self-Reliant as a RV Camper you will need to ensure that the Placard is visible and that the voucher is available when USS arrives (whatever time that day they get there - cause it's Playa Time). Let's take that a step further - If the Placard is visible and the Voucher is available - if you happen to not be there - ANY LOCKING MECHANISM to the Black Water tank must be UNLOCKED.

The best option is for you as an RV Camper to be in camp the day your RV is to be serviced or until USS arrives so that there are no issues. The camp is not responsible if your RV misses servicing because you were not there - the voucher is not available or your RV Black Water Tank cover is locked.

What we can do is refine our process to assist you - The Pre-Paid RV Service Voucher(s) and Placard will be available for your pick-up from fellow camper Canyon Man (He has an RV with a RESIST Flag).

For years I have been thinking about bringing a slightly used (one side) foam board from a previous year (IT IS WHITE ON THE OTHER SIDE) and create an ad-hoc camp map of where you are located - so people can find each other as well as have a list of RV's that are being serviced on a specific day.

The best option is for you as an RV Camper to be in camp the day your RV is to be serviced or until USS arrives so that there are no issues. The camp is not responsible if your RV misses servicing because you were not there - the voucher is not available or your RV Gray Water Tank cover is locked.

For those RV Campers that do not have a pre-paid servicing slot - you can always flag down USS for RV-Servicing. It is my understanding that the Service Trucks that come for the Pre-Paid may not be available for those that do not have an already pre-paid RV Servicing Voucher. I believe these trucks are on specific routes for a specific number of pump outs.

****Water - Water - Water****

In the desert water is a commodity – as a camp; it is used to fill our water cooler | cook | clean posts/pans & dishes | coffee | starter water for the Human Carcass Wash. 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.

In 2020 we are thinking about transporting an additional 100 Gallons of water to be used exclusively for dishwashing and we can use the donated water/vehicle for drinking water (filling the large water container | Coffee & Cooking.

Some campers 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.

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 as well making 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. 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.

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 the Garbage Czar so they can properly fill them for you to transport off-playa.

Our Garbage Czar 'STAGGER' has indicated that he will not be returning to BRC in 2020 so we will be putting a callout for a new Garbage Czar & helpers in the coming months. Do you like garbage - Have a Garbage Mouth - Maybe you would be good candidate to be our Garbage Czar.

****20th Anniversary Art Project - Circa 2018****

Thanks to Atira, Armella, Rich, Uncle Bob, Tattletale & ALL CAMPERS that assisted in creating, erecting our 2018 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.

****21st Anniversary Art Project - Village of PolyParadise Blacklight Sign - Circa 2019****

It was my original vision to create a dramatic Art Piece for our entry way on the road frontage to Welcome ALL to the Village of PolyParadise. We purchased an additional Lighting Truss & 1' Wooden Letters to spell out The Village of PolyParadise. At the annual Work-Party in March we started the process of painting the wooden letters in Blacklight Paint. KUDOS to Neefer for coming up with the idea of painting the letters in succession with the Burning Man Theme from that year. What an amazing idea. They are truly each a work of ART on their own.

SPECIAL CALLOUT to Master Twist who came up with the ingenious idea to mount the letters on additional Truss structure ABOVE the main truss so that they were not only visible but then the entire structure could be a walk-thru and not a walk around.

With the Lighting Truss itself painted with Blacklight paint - WOW JUST WOW!!! It was DRAMATIC - It was just as I envisioned. THANK YOU ALL FOR PLAYING WITH ART WITH ME!!

This Art Piece will continue to be our Camp Entry Way for years to come.

Well what can we do to TOP the Village of PolyParadise Blacklight Entry way sign - I have been thinking...

The Event space which is 40'x40' is bustling with activity from 11:00a-6:00p Monday-Saturday with our Playa-Events. The space is lit up @ night but is highly under utilized during the nighttime hours. I have become very enamored with Blacklight and the amazing visual that it creates.

My vision is for this 40'x40' event space to become a place to be and hang-out @ night in 2020. I want to transform the interior of the space to be visually stimulating during the day but A BLACKLIGHT LIT GARDEN OF COLOR @ NIGHT in conjunction with 3D-Glasses to make this an incredible Visual Experience.

• Wrap the EMT Conduit in Blacklight Gaffers Tape
• Purchase Blacklight Tapestries to hang on the walls
• Purchase & Paint plastic White Masks that would hang in the space
• Paint Canvas Tarps as flooring
• How about Mannequin Parts or a full body -
• Utilize additional Blacklight Lights and hang them in strategic locations to create the effect illuminating the entire 40'x40' area
• Purchase 3D Glasses to make the experience OVER THE TOP
• Additional consideration if budget allows - Purchase a Karaoke System and have that as a nightly event in 3D Blacklight

What do you all think about that idea - Any other things we can paint in Balcklight Paint to make this an INCREDIBLE space to hang out in @ night -

****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.

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, Alien, Sarge, Kilted James, The Doctor, Cobalt, Armella, Corvus, Sandman, Cactus Man, Raymond, Atira, Knotch, Shadow, Fancy Nancy, Neefer, JimyMac, Dr. Dirt, Daniel, Bruno, Rachel, Donnie, Big Rig, Rich, Tatteltale, Lytyl, Sunny, Ron, Rhonda, Cynthia, Justin, Diane, Dance Boy, Laura, Cole, The Jason, LauraZ, Craig, Ken, Becky, Luna Tickles, Cheyenne, Jeffrey) Back in the day circa 2006 it was only WildChild & I that represented Arizona in PolyParadise. It is amazing to have had 35 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; The Village of PolyParadise will be celebrating 22 years within the gates of Black Rock City in 2020.

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 21, 2020 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 2019 Crew:

We promise to take lots of pics to post to our FaceBook Group 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 - Special THANKS!!! MASTER TWIST!!! The 2500W Battery Backup system continues to provide us a way to keep those electrons flowing now matter the status of the generator. Hats off to you my Right Hand Man & Rocket Scientist!!!!

We rented a Honda EU 7000W generator used in conjunction with our 2500W Battery Backup system. This in conjunction with the 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 Trevor & Big Rig 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 & Big Rig!!!!!

With that said I believe we are pushing the limits of the 7000W Generator; in conjunction with all the hassle & danger that is transporting ~100G of Gasoline. In 2020 we will be looking at renting a 10-15KW Tow Behind generator and sign-up for the BRC Fuel Delivery Program to have this generator gas serviced.

This will require us to place the generator in a spot closer to the road so it can be fueled within the requirements of the BRC Fuel Program; we may also need to purchase additional power cords & yellow distribution boxes to accommodate this new generator location. This added expense is one of the factors in raising camp fees of 2020.

****Burning Man Tickets 2020****

The distribution of tickets for Burning Man 2020 has yet to be announced: http://tickets.burningman.org/ for details.

Registration for tickets will be thru your Burner Profile:

As a Theme Camp we do get to participate in the Directed Group Sale - The available slots in this sale are reserved for our key crew as well as new additions each year within the total we are alotted. As of this writing I do not know the exact number of DGS tickets we will be allotted - If we receive the same number of ticket opportunities - a preliminary list so far would have ~ 20 slots going to new campers to that list. The Twisted Swan & Temple of Bacchus are allotted tickets from within the total number we are given as a Village.

Of course there are only so many tickets total for sale total to Burning Man that are allocated within multiple sale opportunities. With current discussions being had by The Cultural Direction Setting Council it is unknown that as a Village if we will continue to receive the same number of allotted tickets in the DGS sale from year to year. Even though I am personally part of the Cultural Council I do not have any influence on any ticketing issues or to make sure we continue to get the same number of DGS opportunities. We are not informed of this number until a few weeks before the DGS sale which annually takes place ~ first week of March.

****Camping Fee - 2020****

Our only source of income to cover the costs of bringing PolyParadise to Black Rock City each year is thru the Camp Fee. In 2019 we established a camping fee of $175/person.

We did end 2019 with a negative balance of $1,350. The deficit was incurred by the 2nd Truck Rental & Gas. Post Burning Man I put out a call about our budget deficit - Thanks to the generosity of our campers we have received monies to cover the 2019 budget deficit and have a nest egg for the Work-Party in 2020.

Because of this deficit spending and a few key infrastructure purchases for 2020 (Tow Behind Generator & move to Lag Bolts instead of Rebar) our camp fee will be raised to $225/person in 2020).

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BELIEVING IN COMMUNITY!!!

Registration for PolyParadise will begin on March 1, 2020...

Because of the income reporting issues concerning PayPal I am no longer be able to accept payment for camp fees via said PayPal. Camp Fees in 2020 must be paid via check or money order. Bottom line if your check BOUNCES please plan on camping elsewhere.

Attention International Campers - I know how difficult it can be to get a US Check - Upon registration I will let you know of an alternative option for camp fee payment.

****Scotto Speak****

2019 was my 20th Burn and my 18th 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 21yrs 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 22, it will be better than ever!!!

August 29 - September 6 - 2021 - 252 Days left till Burning Man!

****Poly Dome****

A huge shootout to Tailfeather for bringing the dome to Burning Man 2019 - The Arts & Maker Space that was the dome did not materialize as I expected. I am not really sure how many of the scheduled events actually happened.

I appreciate any and all campers that had planned Art & Maker space events and actually pulled off those events.

In discussions with Tailfeather post Playa we have decided that the total work it takes for Tailfeather to de-install the dome from his property transport it to Burning Man set it up take it down - transport back to his property and set back up is just not worth the time & effort. So this 28' dome will no longer be making an appearance within the boundaries of our camp space.

Major kudos for another year goes to Twist for the original shower base & frame that we have been using since 2008. The coat of Epoxy Paint | installation of 1" footpads we installed the in 2018 continued to work great - with the height of the enclosure @ 10'. Major Kudos to Cactusman for coming up with an ingenious pulley system to be able to raise & lower the shower bags.

Having the entire shower structure and waiting area on top of the canvas tarps certainly made less MOOP and provided a non- playa mud area for those waiting to shower.

The new metal stairs with handrails worked awesome and should last for several years in the future. For 2020 will be looking into being able to hang two shower bags at a time within the shower - this will enable the Poly Shower experiences to be easier with a 2nd bag for said Poly Shower experience.