So we had this insane shade planned for BM. We spent tons of time and money on this thing. It really was the center of our planning and we got theme camp status based on the big shade. 100ft shade structure with 8000 sq ft of shade. We had engineers working on the design and how to erect it. We set it up twice before we went to the playa so we could work out the bugs. The center pole was a solid 30 ft radio tower. We were using plates made by a friend. Triangles of steel with holes in each corner for rebar and a solid hook in the center to attach to not only ropes, but zap straps which are super strong.

Sunday we set up the infrastructure when we got there. We had to wait for the wind to calm down so we ended up setting up the parachute itself on Monday night. Tuesday morning I had a lovely nap during the day under the shade. I had to use a blanket cause it was so cool under there. We were in heaven. That is, until a bit of a wind kicked up and 5 poles on the perimeter went pop pop pop pop pop. We all jumped up and tried to secure it back down. Now, this is where it gets really confusing. It continually failed. Two of our crew made the long journey into Reno to pick up better rebar. While they were there, we had to babysit the shade while it continued to fail. Tom T and I had a fight about the shade. He was told not to let anyone cut holes in the shade. I fought and fought with him on this one. The very large shade was turning into a big sale that was attempting to take our camp away.

Tom held strong and we never cut holes. By the time they came back from Reno we were worried about the safety of ourselves and people going past the camp. Outside poles were flying in the wind. They brought back 4ft long fence posts to hold down the shade. This would do it for sure.

The next day we thought we had it licked. We threw a party under the shade, people were having a business meeting, henna was being done. Tarot cards were being read. We had a vodka bar set up that was very popular. Art cars were stopping by our bus stop. I was spinning, people were lounging and dancing. It was a fantastic time. That is, until the wind picked up. We had major failure in the middle of my set. Poles that were being held down by 3 fence posts went flying. Two poles hit the top of the center poles and knocked down the lights were had up there and they went flying. The shade knocked down the monitor onto the turntables. I fortunately had put my hands underneath in time to save them, but I was stuck like that and noone noticed for long that I was trapped.

From there it went from bad to worse. Rad got bit by the shade and had to visit the medical tent. He can't use his right hand for 2 months. That was the beginning of the end. The boys were getting tired of babysitting this shade structure instead of having fun at Burning Man. This is when the biggest dust devil aka tornado I have ever seen hit the playa. We saw it in the distance, it looked like it had taken over half the city. The winds started picking up and we got really nervous. We had already decided that once the winds died down, we were taking the damn shade down. 80mph winds hit us and we spent our time cutting all the poles loose. They finally cut holes in the shade so it wasn't a big wall. Shawn was lifted 5 ft in the air when he was sitting on a pole trying to cut it loose and he is not a small person. It was insane. We ended up having the biggest flag on the playa. We got interviewed for 3 different magazines.



The next morning we took the shade down. I'm sorry I missed it. A bag pipe player happened to come by and played Amazing Grace as it dropped. Craig said a few words and everyone held their hats over their hearts while they all mourned the big shade. We even got a piece of wood from the temple so we could all sign our goodbyes to the big shade.

Thank god our buddy Dave from Cali brought his carport shade again so we had some kind of reprieve from the sun and wind.

Thanks to Troy "Toby" "Zeek" Deer for these excellent photographs.