Village Infrastructure

The Showers
Our camp shower system keeps improving each year.  Last year's quirks have been worked
out and we are planning to have a very simple system this year.  We will once again have
the large, elevated shower deck and two shower heads.  But the method for powering the
water pumps will be much simpler... pour in your water, throw a switch and turn on the
valve at your shower head.  

Grey water will be collected in a large "kiddie pool" under the shower deck.  The pool will be
emptied daily by the port-o-potty service.

Generators and Personal Power Use
We will be renting a 70kw diesel, extra-quiet generator again this year (also known as
a BFG... Big F**kin Gennie) .  It will be delivered to the playa by the vendor and
picked-up (on time!) by the vendor also.  Also, Admiral Painjoy will have his 5kw gennie
with him as a back up (for emergency bar use only in the event the main gennie fails)

Village members are allowed to take advantage of the power to a reasonable degree.
You can plug in lights, small appliances, radios, chargers, fans, etc. - Even your RV (with
certain restrictions)

Power Grid
The village has a "power grid".  This is a service panel (connected to the generator) and a
network of power distribution cables with "plug boxes" at the end of each cable.  The plug
boxes are also referred to as "power drops".  Everybody in the village should be no further
than 100 feet away from a power drop.  Bring your own extension cords and splitters if
you want power for your personal use.  If you are plugging in an RV, you need a 10 gauge
(or lower/thicker) extension cord.

If you are planning on plugging in your RV, please note the following.  You should not
plug more than one RV into a circuit.  There are two circuits on each quad outlet box.  You
should not run your AC and microwave at the same time (or anything else that draws a lot
of power), because this will definitely trip the circuit breakers.  Or even better... just use
your on-board gennie if you have one!  The rental companies usually charge around $1-3/hr
for gennie use which runs off your gas tank (so be sure to fill up before you get to Bman).  
If you don't know whether you have an "automatic transfer switch" for the power, just
unplug from the grid when you use your on-board gennie.

We are planning some upgrades to our power grid this year.  We will be adding more power
drops this year and increasing the amperage of some of our circuits as well.

Do not touch the generator or service panels... find "Sparky" or Mayor Joey.
Charlie Curry is "Sparky" this year.  He runs the gennie and grid.

Privacy Fencing
Because the "powers-that-be" seem to consider spanking to be SEX... And because
Burningman is now considered a "family event"  (I am actually quoting members of the
sheriff's dept. here folks!), we will have some sort of privacy fencing in the front of our
village this year.  Many people may consider this to be a drawback, but it's also a good
thing.  Not only will we avoid harassment from law enforcement, but we will also be able
to have a more liberal, sexy vibe in the village.

We are hoping to create a system that is "retractable".  One that can be lowered, folded or
partially eliminated during "non peak" bar hours so that we don't always lose our view of
the playa and the man.

The Bar and Bar Supplies
It takes a lot to run a bar on the playa!  Ice, sound system, lighting, rags, cleaning supplies,
paper towels, cups, cups, more cups, coolers, trash cans, trash bags, game supplies, bar
stools, and so on.  Especially when you are serving 10s of thousands of patrons!

Lighting and Sound
One of our biggest needs in past years has been quality sound and lighting.  We are making
great efforts to fulfill these needs this year.  We want the bar/village to have a much
stronger "playa-club" feel this year.  We are hoping to invest some money into DJ quality
sound and lighting.  This will give us better sounding music and will allow us to properly
light all of our attractions... maybe even have some trick lighting effects synchronized to
the music!

Building Supplies and Maintenance
Every year, things need to be built and/or maintained.  The desert is not a forgiving
environment... it eats everything.  Our biggest expense this year will be the replacement of
the shade panels for the BASS (big ass shade structure).  We are contracting with a
company in Illinois to make us new panels.  The size of the BASS will be increasing this
year as well... bigger is better... ask your girlfriend!

Administrative Costs
While your Admiral is a nice and generous guy, who doesn't mind donating upwards of
1000 hours of his time into creating the village, he is not wealthy (unless you count his
friendships with all of you!).  Costs such as website fees, office supplies, paypal fees,
welcome packs, etc are all part of your camp dues.

Trucking
The toys, attractions, bar, and other misc. village items are stored, free of charge, at
Mayor Joey's ranch in Fallon, NV throughout the year.  Getting them to and from Bman
every year requires us to hire a flatbed semi truck (and sometimes a forklift and/or a crane).  
We get a very reasonable rate from a local vendor/burner in Fallon.  Without this, we
would not be able to have the stuff on the playa that makes us an "esplanade worthy"  
village.

LNT, Trash and Disposal
At the end of the event, there is a ton (no make that tons!) of trash that needs to be
properly disposed of.  Each member of the village is asked to take a case of empty wine
bottles and a couple bags of trash out of Bman and properly dispose of it.  We do it this
way, primarily due to space restrictions.  Trash always takes up more space after the event
than the original products took up when we brought them to the playa... roughtly five
times as much space!  It is much easier and cheaper when we spread the burden over the
masses.  

But, this doesn't account for large items like carpets, sofas, tables, structures, etc. that may
need to be disposed of after the event.  These are hauled back to Fallon and Painjoy brings
them to the local dump.

We also pay the port-a-pottie guys to drain our shower (grey) water from the holding pools
daily.
JimHillas.Org                           Spanky's Village
                      "We won't do anything to you that you won't beg for again tomorrow"