Las Vegas version of Burning Man set for March 2

Call it Burning Man: The Las Vegas Spectacular.

A group of artists is looking to re-create in the city the counterculture vibe of the annual Burning Man festival in the Northern Nevada desert, complete with a massive, burning sculpture.

The mostly wooden sculpture, a new version of the 20-foot-tall Lucky Lady Lucy that burned in the Black Rock Desert with many other sculptures last summer, is already under construction and is scheduled to be set aflame on a vacant lot in Las Vegas' Arts District on March 2.

"There has never been a burn in Las Vegas, so this is going to be history in the making," organizer Nikki Doran said.

The idea is to import to Las Vegas the primal feeling that calls tens of thousands of "burners" to spend a week on a desert playa about 120 miles north of Reno every summer.

The city Arts Commission, a taxpayer-supported organization that makes grants for art projects, contributed $3,000 for the sculpture that was hauled up north and the one to be assembled for the Las Vegas burn.

The city fire marshal is expected to oversee the local burn, city spokesman Jace Radke said.

Organizers aren't sure what to expect from a Las Vegas version, other than a cultural spectacle that could take off like wildfire. Nor do they know how many participants might show up.

Merritt Pelkey, the artist who designed Lucy, predicts the ritual burning at the upcoming First Friday will help people forge a deeper connection not only with the monthly music and arts festival downtown but also with each other.

The sculpture, which resembles a showgirl, is scheduled to be set aflame at 8:15 p.m. at South Third Street and East Colorado Avenue.

Pekley said he is keeping as much of the design as possible under wraps until show time.

"She will be a complete surprise. There won't be any of the slot machines, but there will be poker chips."

The burn date coincides with the "Burnal Equinox," the time of year that is halfway between the previous and upcoming Burning Man events at Black Rock.

Unlike the event at Black Rock, which lasts days, includes tens of thousands of attendees and involves creating a temporary, self-sustaining community on the desert playa, the Las Vegas version will last just one night.

Besides the burn, there will be live music, fire performances -- which will start at 6 p.m. -- and an invitation to attendees to wear burner costumes.

The event is advertised as open to all ages. And organizers, through the First Friday website, are advertising special "Burn Vegas Burn" rates at the Plaza, Golden Nugget and El Cortez.

Pelkey said he expects the Las Vegas sculpture to be more ornate and elegant than the version burned at Black Rock because it doesn't have to survive transportation and a week exposed to the elements in advance of the burn itself.

"There will be a few different looks, she will have more of a costume on," he said.

"She doesn't have to be as structurally strong and bulky looking."

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@ reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435.

Trending topics:

• Black Rock Desert
• Burning Man
• First Friday
• Las Vegas
• Merritt Pelkey
• Nikki Doran

Comments

Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.

1. 777s Feb. 7, 2012 | 5:07 p.m. Report Abuse

   Maybe it is a good idea after all....let the fire keep burning and clear every vacant building downtown that the previous high rise developers did not take down. I am so sick of driving and walking around downtown Las Vegas and seeing an extraordinary ugly "urban" rapper or grafetti themed giant "mural" all over the vacant building. "Art" is not development. We need lots of new shops and galleries and apartments and businesses that create jobs.

2. 486 Feb. 7, 2012 | 3:56 p.m. Report Abuse

   Wow, getting mad about a creative event meant to build some culture in this city? This event draws from and celebrates our local arts and burning man community! It will showcase the creativity of many different local performance troupes, musicians, DJs, and visual artists in the time around the burning of Lucky Lady Lucy. There will be art cars and mutant vehicles present, and while First Friday may not fit the principles of Burning Man, this event certainly will strive to. The city's donations to the development of this community art project, fueling community and creativity, were a small contribution on top of what the community raised itself. All necessary precautions are being taken to make it as safe as possible. It's a wooden statue; burning it isn't that different from using your fireplaces and fire pits...
   
   It's not about copying Burning Man as some kind of tourist attraction, it's about celebrating the same things that Burning Man represents in our home town, with our local community, during a monthly event that brings us together around art.

3. AmLowLife Feb. 7, 2012 | 2:10 p.m. Report Abuse

   Pure silliness. Definitely a Vegas version of something that many consider meaningful. It would be like saying, Hey, the Olympics are cool, why don't we light something like the Olympic torch here? Neato, eh? Of course, it would ignore the entire ritual of thousands of volunteers from a bunch of nations united to move the torch from the last games to the next one. And it would ignore the thousands of athletes marching with their flags and would also ignore the now-legendary past Olympians of the actual flame lighting procession. To those that aren't familiar with Burning Man this is what the Vegas geniuses would be doing with their little downtown BM. The lighting of the structure at BM has a significance well beyond simply burning a giant showgirl in a downtown parking lot. But that's what Vegas does best--ignores the soul of something and grabs the sizzle. I thought maybe the Art District folks wouldn't do that but I guess not...

4. Jack.Sprat Feb. 7, 2012 | 9:33 a.m. Report Abuse

   This feels like a cheap comercialized version of Burning Man. But that's cool. Bring in some money for NLV is always a good thing.

5. flx.lnx Feb. 7, 2012 | 9:02 a.m. Report Abuse

   Burning Man impersonator...how original.
   I say why not.
   We have every other kind of impersonation.
   Why not Burning Man?
   Comic book celebrities, psuedo celebrities, pop, rock, and country wannabe celebrities, legends of music celebrities, mob ties celebrities, casino's as other cities celebrities.
   What's a little smog compared to cow farts nation wide?

6. 40-oz Feb. 7, 2012 | 8:47 a.m. Report Abuse

   "BURN BABY BURN" Do tax payers want to watch their money "BURN". Will Moses come down from Mt. Charleston with golden tablets. In punishment for worshiping the Fire God will we then wander aimless in the desert for forty years? Will we find the promise land of California. Will we then fight the 2,000 year Mexican war? Will we be burned in the ovens of our enemies? Who will occupy the Salton Sea? Those that play with fire get burned.

7. buster5555 Feb. 7, 2012 | 8:37 a.m. Report Abuse

   Most of the commenters on this page should probably just stay locked in their small little worlds negatively thinking about anything that could possibly turn into something bigger, cooler and economy stimulating in the future. At what age do you people just get negative and upset with your place in the world. Lighten up and go enjoy something.......anything.

8. Peter.Morton Feb. 7, 2012 | 8:05 a.m. Report Abuse

   torching the uppity soho artsy wannabes downtown would be a better idea..

9. Paul Devlin Feb. 7, 2012 | 7:21 a.m. Report Abuse

   This a nuts. a burn downtown? I agree with all the comments below. This could inspire urban violence and is a copy cat rip-off of the original and only true "burn" experience, Burning Man. We are so desperate to have some off beat hyped up cultural event that we rip off another one from another community? I guess we are not only out of money but out of ideas.

10. Joe.Johnston Feb. 7, 2012 | 5:04 a.m. Report Abuse

    For a "broke" government, we sure have plenty of money to spend, here is a quote from the article, "a taxpayer-supported organization that makes grants for art projects, contributed $3,000 for the sculpture" Our local government alone spends sooooo much money on sooooo many different things. Why can't they just do the basic things gov was established to do. I have graffiti on the walls of my street and cannot get the local gov to paint over it but they can give 3000 for this.

Read All Comments