Center
Camp
Café
This was the third year the Center Camp Café occupied its
current structure, and the second or third year for nearly everyone on the
team,
so
we
felt
we
really
had
the
opportunity
in
2002
to
hone
what
we'd
learned
from
previous
experience.
On
the
construction
side,
we
added
a
Secondary
Construction
Manager,
who
took
charge
of
the
coffee
shop
floors,
waterproof
shade,
counters,
staff
lounge
area,
and
fence,
as
well
as
the
stages,
the
sound
booth,
and
numerous
other
miscellaneous
projects.
Among
other
things,
this
increase
in
activity
meant
that,
for
the
first
year,
we
opened
the
Café
on
Monday
morning
without
people
hammering
overhead
while
the
baristas
served
coffee.
The
structure
crew
did
an
incredible
job
of
getting
the
Café
itself
built,
rigged,
and
shaded
in
RECORD
time.
Also,
the
Transportation
crew
did
a
superb
job
of
getting
all
our
"stuff"
(and
we
use
a
LOT
of
stuff!)
moved
over
from
Black
Rock
Station.
Beyond
those
functions,
Art
and
Decor
finally
got
the
time
to
shine
in
2002.
In
2002,
we
gave
full
recognition
to
our
status
as
Burning
Man's
largest
theme
camp.
For
the
first
time,
we
started
our
Art
and
Decor
planning
from
the
premise
that
the
entire
Café
was
a
theme
art
project.
From
this
thinking
emerged
Café
Island,
upon
whose
shores
weary
citizens
washed
up
after
navigating
the
turbulent
waters
of
Black
Rock
City.
We
surrounded
the
Café
with
blue
lights
to
denote
the
seashore,
patting
ourselves
on
the
back
that
this
decor
element
also
served
the
important
safety
feature
of
demarcating
the
structural
ground
anchors
to
reduce
the
likelihood
of
their
being
bumped
or
driven
over
at
night.
Facilitated
by
a
close
partnership
with
the
Art
Department,
Finley
Fryer
contributed
his
fabulous
Main
Portal,
with
images
of
Floating
World
creatures
beckoning
to
wandering
souls
as
they
approached
the
safe
harbor
of
the
Café.
Spacecat
created
a
magical
Floating
World
mural
that
stretched
the
full
150-foot
length
of
our
back
fence.
Members
of
the
construction
team
built
ship's
masts
at
the
side
portals,
where
nautical
flags
spelled
out
a
personal
message
of
welcome.
On
playa
we
were
blessed
with
surprise
help
from
a
talented
team
of
carpenters,
painters,
and
set
dressers
who
turned
miscellaneous
scraps
and
props
into
a
marooned
pirate
ship
filled
with
treasure,
a
waterfall
cascading
over
loungeable
rocks,
tropically
fringed
benches,
and
other
delights.
The
Café housed
significantly
more
art
installations
than
ever
before,
most
preplanned,
but
some
impromptu,
and
all
greatly
benefiting
from
the
addition
of
an
Artist
Liaison
to
our
team
roster.
On
the
performance
side,
we
added
a
Performance
Curator.
The
schedule
featured
two
evenings
of
entertainment
related
to
the
Floating
World
theme,
and
we
increased
recognition
of
the
growing
national
and
international
presence
of
Burning
Man
through
regional
reps
by
designating
specific
Regional
Nights
for
the
music
stage:
Tuesday
showcased
talent
from
the
middle
states,
Wednesday
for
eastern
states,
Thursday
for
western
states,
and
Sunday
for
international
performers.
Volunteers
from
each
geographic
area
coordinated
and
curated
the
entertainment
for
their
night,
and
the
result
was
a
much
more
varied
(and
fun!)
performance
schedule
than
in
the
past.
In
particular,
many
more
groups
took
advantage
of
the
full
Café
structure
by
moving
performance
from
the
stage,
including
trapezes
hanging
off
the
structure's
center
ring.
The
Word
of
Mouth
(spoken
word)
stage
also
continues
to
grow
in
volume
and
quality
of
participation,
featuring
a
range
of
performance
from
talk
shows
to
poetry
to
comedy
to
puppetry.
To
inform
the
citizens
of
Black
Rock
City
of
the
varied
activities
at
the
Café,
a
brief
piece
was
written
in
the
gate
edition
of
the
Black
Rock
Gazette,
and
a
PSA
was
recorded
before
arrival
on
the
playa
and
provided
to
Burning
Man
Information
Radio.
Our
other
big
initiative
for
2002
was
the
formal
focus
on
creating
a
Café
community,
following
the
model
of
the
Lamplighters
and
now
Greeters.
With
more
than
800
volunteers
taking
part
in
creating,
running,
and
cleaning
up
the
Café,
we
recognized
that
we
needed
to
focus
some
specific
energy
on
reaching
out
to
these
fabulous
folks.
To
begin,
we
expanded
our
Volunteer
Coordinator
team
to
add
an
"umbrella"
community
coordinator
and
a
specific
Art
and
Decor
Team
coordinator
to
support
the
overworked
Coffee
Shop
VC.
Then
we
added
an
email
newsletter
called
the
"Liquid
Voice"
that
provided
periodic
updates
to
everyone
on
our
lists.
In
the
off-season,
we
hosted
a
series
of
Café
craft
parties
at
the
new
office,
which
allowed
folks
to
have
fun
painting
and
gluing
and
glittering
and
grommeting
items
for
the
playa.
Some
participants
in
these
sessions
made
it
to
Burning
Man,
and
some
did
not.
(In
fact,
we
found
that
some
people
came
to
the
craft
parties
specifically
because
they
knew
they
couldn't
attend
the
event,
and
they
wanted
a
way
to
stay
involved
and
to
feel
like
a
part
of
themselves
WOULD
be
out
there
with
us
all.)
We
also
created
a
Café logo
and
made
up
lots
of
stickers
as
fun
gifts
for
our
volunteers.
On
the
playa,
we
established
Café Village,
a
home
away
from
home
for
Café
workers.
Folks
who
camped
there
had
access
to
a
communal
kitchen,
a
shower,
several
shared
shade
structures,
and,
of
course,
the
raucous
hosting
of
the
gang
from
Muddy
Waters
who,
in
addition
to
supplying
our
coffee
and
all
the
coffee
shop
equipment,
certainly
take
the
"work
hard/play
hard"
motto
to
heart.
At
the
Café
itself,
we
established
our
first-ever
"welcome
table"
for
volunteers:
a
place
where
people
could
check
in,
confirm
their
schedules,
ask
questions,
get
oriented,
and
just
generally
announce
"I'm
here
and
I’m
excited
to
be
here!"
The
result
of
it
all
was
an
unprecedented
number
of
qualified,
talented,
enthusiastic
folks.
For
several
coffee
shop
shifts,
we
literally
had
to
turn
extra
people
away
(but
none
of
these
shifts
occurred
post-Burn
or
on
Sunday
and
Monday).
Our
documentation
efforts
for
2002
also
grew
in
scope,
as
we
documented
year-round
activities
and
craft
parties.
We
recruited
a
small
team
of
photographers
and
videographers
from
around
the
world
to
assist
in
documentation
during
the
event.
The
photos
in
this
report
and
on
our
web
pages,
as
well
as
the
tremendous
record
of
the
Café
"Webumentary
"
described
below
are
all
the
fruits
of
this
project.
Among
all
the
many
many
successes,
the
Café
crew
experienced
only
two
real
problems:
Much
of
the
art
required
special
lighting,
and
the
number
of
Lantern
Trees
increased.
These
factors,
along
with
other
features
like
ground
anchor
lights,
the
stages,
the
portal,
etc.
created
unexpected
power
demands,
and
our
electrical
grid
didn't
provide
consistent
service.
Each
night
found
the
intrepid
Lighting
Team
crawling
around,
throwing
bikes
off
the
lighting
boxes,
and
generally
trying
to
figure
out
why
the
lights
in
one
quadrant
or
the
other
weren't
working.
Also,
the
huge
4-day
post-event
dust
storm
caught
us
unprepared.
Although
an
incredibly
dedicated
crew
successfully
took
down
and
stowed
the
decor,
art,
and
coffee
shop
fixtures
safely
and
in
record
time,
the
rest
of
our
cleanup
crew
wasn't
able
to
wait
things
out,
and
we
left
the
DPW
with
a
huge
task.
We
apologize,
and
we
are
deeply
grateful
for
their
dedication
and
hard
work.
In
2003,
look
for even more focus on art (both related and unrelated to the event
theme), a fabulous nighttime visual presence, deeper development
of the Café community, and lots of other things we've planned to
delight you. You can also expect plenty of things we've NOT planned,
but which are contributed by BRC citizens in the course of the
event week, both installed and ad hoc.
For a full record of Café Island in 2002, from
planning through cleanup, see this year's Café Webumentary, "Greetings
From Café Island" which includes photos, video, audio, statistics,
and much, much more.
Submitted by,
Dana Harrison, aka BizBabe
Click here to read the 2001 Center Camp Café report.