Black Rock Station (aka the Ranch) saw more pre-event activity than ever before in 2012, starting in May, and running right up to the beginning of the event. As Burning Man continues to expand, its infrastructure keeps growing to support both staff and the construction and clean up of Black Rock City. Much of this infrastructure lives in or is constructed at Black Rock Station.
The first construction crew on site took on an eight-week effort to build out a large number of portable housing and office units for various Burning Man Departments. Once that job was completed, The Man KCrew moved in for the building The Man. Up next was The Man Base Crew, who joined us for two weeks to construct various elements of Burning Man’s most elaborate Man Base to date … and yes, they rocked it.
Throughout the whole process, the Ranch Crew, the Metal Shop and Auto Shop staff worked on hundreds of different tasks while Solar Specialist installed a new 70K solar grid to support the Ranch house, which also received a new living room addition over the winter. All in all it was a very, very busy pre-event season leading up to the inevitable Transportation of all things going out to the playa to start the building of Black Rock City.
Back in Gerlach, The Black Rock Saloon received some minor but much-needed upgrades before the DPW arrived, including a brand new pool table for the crew’s pleasure and a new paint job in the barroom. The Gerlach Office also got a bit of a facelift this spring and a new sign to go with it.
Over at The Showers Property, power issues were addressed to accommodate the ever-increasing volume of use the facility is now receiving from July through the completion of Playa Restoration. Once again, they came, they worked, they played, and then they left…
Submitted by,
Quinn Yarbrough