5M to Burning Man for Fly Ranch
5M to Burning Man for Fly Ranch
After 20 years of dreaming of buying Fly Ranch, Burning Man finally did it.
For $6.5 million, the Burning Man organization on Fridayofficially purchased the stunning, hot springs filled3,800 acre property about 21 miles north of Gerlach. The location is several miles from the site of Burning Man, a 70,000 person arts gathering held in the Black Rock Desert since 1990each year.
But where did the money come from? It did not come fromticket revenue, vehicle passes, coffee sales, general donations to the nonprofit Burning Man Project, or any previously existing source of Burning Man income.
The funds for the purchase came from Burners who "who have been deeply affected by the spirit and principles of Burning Man, and felt called to give back to the community by enabling us to explore the potential of having a year round home," the Burning Man Blog stated.
So who are these donors?
The organization intends to reveal the names of the specific donors next week, according to Burning Man spokeswoman Megan Miller.
The property, home to therainbow colored,man made Fly Geyser, has been shut off to the public for several years, as it is on a grassy swath ofprivate land formerly owned by Bright Holland Co. Although few have been able to access the geyser, it is a well known landmark in the northern Nevada region.
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"Our intention in the longer termis to have it more accessible or available, but we have a lot of work to do before we host anyone or anything there," Miller said.
The nonprofit, which already owns a 200 acre working, storage ranch that neighbors Fly Ranch, will use the newly acquired property for year round gatherings and events, according to Miller.
The property includes 640 acres of wetlands, dozens of hot springs of varying temperatures and a mini playa on the property. The Fly Geyser itself is not natural, but instead the result of someone drilling in the land for geothermal energy and forgetting to cap the hole in 1964. Mineral deposits and algae are responsible for itssaffron, copper and green coloring.
While the Burning Man organization and Bright Holland Co. owner Todd Jaksick have been working on negotiations for several months, several attempts to purchase the property have failed in the past, according to Miller. The arts nonprofit has had its sights on the ranch for two years, she said.
The sale wasfinalized, however, on Friday after Burning Man CEO Marian Goodell signedfinal documentsThursday; those documents were thenrecorded with the Washoe Co. Recorder's Office on Friday.
The Burning Man organization does not own the site of the Burning Man event, which is overseen by the Bureau of Land Management. The BLM issues a $4 million special use recreation permit, the largest in the country,to the organization each year for use of the Black Rock Desert, a flat alkaline expanse.
The purchase of the ranch, and plans to further develop Burning Man's working ranch, have put to rest rumors that the organization plans to relocate the main event to Utah.

