Burning Man co-founder decries festival's shift to 'Disneyland for the well-heeled' era
Burning Man co-founder John Law writes in the San Francisco Standard that the festival has lost its anarchist soul and become a carnival-like playground for the wealthy, describing it as a “Disneyland for the well-heeled.” He notes attendees now stay in luxury camps, some fly in on business jets, and ticket prices have climbed (roughly from $550 to $3,000), arguing the event’s rise—from a tiny gathering in 1990 to tens of thousands of attendees—reflects commercialization under the influence of Silicon Valley and the internet, even as he acknowledges it remains a famous party.