History of the hippie movement and the Holding Company, Merl Saunders and Babatunde Olatunji to speakers such as Timothy Leary, Terence McKenna, Paul Krassner, Stephen Gaskin, Robert Anton Wilson, Harvey Wasserman and Ralph Metzner. The Burning Man festival began in 1986 at a San Francisco beach party. Now an annual gathering, the event is held in the Black Rock Desert northeast of Reno, Nevada. Though few participants would accept the "hippie" label, Burning Man is a contemporary expression of alternative community in the same spirit as early hippie events. The gathering becomes a temporary city (36,500 occupants in 2005), with elaborate encampments, displays and many
Burning Man Creative Commons and other parties, and has revised and clarified the photography policies. The popularity of Burning Man has encouraged other groups and organizations to hold events similar to Burning Man. Burners have created smaller regional events modeled on Burning Man, such as Burning Flipside in Texas; Apogaea in Colorado; Playa del Fuego in Delaware; Firefly in New England; Kiwiburn in New Zealand; Burning Seed in Australia; Transformus in North Carolina; AfrikaBurn in South Africa; NoWhere near Zaragoza in Spain; Midburn in Israel; and many others. Some of the events are officially affiliated with the Burning Man organization via the