Aly Weisman/Business Insider
Nearly 70,000 people attended this year's Burning Man.
There is no power grid and no running water, yet during this week Black Rock City emerges out of the dust to become the 10th largest city in Nevada. Despite reports that the festival is losing its edge as wealthy tech titans like Elon Musk, Sergey Brin, and Mark Zuckerberg erect fancy luxury camps, I can report that this year's festival was as wild as ever.
Much like when I first attended two years ago, I saw plenty of nudity, free hugs and massages, attractions like human petting zoos, dozens of weddings and memorial ceremonies, world class DJs playing on Vegas-style sound systems at all hours of the day and night, buses and tractors turned into party yachts, fire-breathing dragons and other outrageous "art cars," people climbing on giant art installations, and generous offerings of food and alcohol to strangers.
This year also saw unseasonably bad dust storms and freezing temperatures, but that didn't stop nearly 70,000 attendees from having the time of their lives.