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Despite a brief setback caused by Tropical Storm Hilary, the playa is back in business as Burning Man 2023 gets underway. The annual desert bacchanal is renowned for its inspiring art, towering metallic sculptures, and communal living in the Black Rock Desert 80 miles north of Reno. And this year is no exception. But beneath the fun, there's a severe philosophy at work.

The Ten Principles inspire the event, emphasizing radical inclusion, community-sharing, self-expression, personal growth, and environmental respect. They serve as guidelines for the many participants who create and inhabit their camps in the city, built each September. These tenets are also at the heart of every act of art, drama, exhibition, or spectacle.

Black Rock City is a testament to human imagination and spirit, rising from the dust each year embodying the festival's core ethos of community, creativity, and self-reliance. In recent years, it's expanded to include a variety of subthemes and dozens of neighborhoods anchored by specific interests such as music, cooking, sports, learning disciplines, or arts.

Each neighborhood in the city is further divided into streets and blocks with names related to the theme. The streets are lined with art, performance spaces, and other installations. In addition, many encampments have articles about their location, including health, sustainability, and art.

The city is created to be a space for community, collaboration, and self-expression, a place of gifting, selflessness, and decommodification. Its enduring symbol is the burning of a wooden statue, or effigy, at the end of the weeklong event, traditionally on Labor Day. It is a tradition that dates back to 1986 when Larry Harvey and Jerry James burned an eight-foot (two-meter) wooden man on San Francisco's Baker Beach.

This year's gathering edition runs from August 27 to September 4. It is expected to attract more than 70,000 people from all over the world. Those with tickets can come and go at their leisure, but it is essential to know some basic rules of the event.

While the event is primarily a volunteer-run operation, some paid staff members are needed to facilitate production. The onsite operations are overseen by the Burning Man Project, a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco. The organization's mission is "to inspire and cultivate the evolution of a culture that fosters individual and collective expression of humanity."

It's common for tickets to be available through resale channels in the days leading up to Burning Man, but veteran attendees tell us this year is a little different. The number of available tickets is far higher than usual, and prices are close to face value.

Why there's been such a significant spike in ticket availability needs to be clarified. Still, speculation is rife on social media groups and among Burner friends that a few things are at play. For one, the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on international travel have prompted some to postpone their plans for the late-summer festival.