PolyParadise - 2025 - Wrap-up

    Saturday December 27, 2025

    It is hard to believe another year in BRC has come & gone...The Village of PolyParadise 2025 was absolutely incredible and our best collective effort yet at creating this amazing On-Playa home we call The Village of PolyParadise, As we venture to the Playa each year there are always challenges and together we find a way to make things right, together we build an amazing space within the gates of BRC, a place to really call home in the desert.

    Each year as Benevolent Dictator, I learn more and more about why I love all things Burning Man, why I love all things Village of PolyParadise and of course the things I dislike about BRC but this is a Happy Post.

    Of course there is an amazing personal journey for me, but it is the journey I watch in others, their self-discovery, their triumphs as well as low points, watching people grow and blossom.

    This section of the Year in Review; The Wrap-up is my way of thanking all of the amazing people that assist us in creating PolyParadise, not only On-Playa but all year-round here in Phoenix. I am taken aback by those that give even when they are not PolyParadise campers or give to the community even if the Playa is not in their travel plans.

    Here-in are my THANK YOU's for Burning Man 2025...This list in not an all-inclusive list and if I left someone or something out it is not because I was unaware of your contribution it is just a minor oversight and is in no particular order. EACH ONE OF YOU HAD A PART AND A HAND IN MAKING US THE SUCCESS WE WERE!!

    The first Thank You has always been reserved for my Life Partner, Wife, Friend & companion, WildChild!!! She continues to be an awesome inspiration for all things Burning Man, stands by me in my ever increasing need to volunteer. Thank You!!!  Your love of everything Burning Man, Community, Hard Work, artistic talent and love of people is inspiring. Never let that light dim.

    BIG BIG Kudos - To our fellow AZBurners who are always available to assist during the year; for Truck Loading & Unpacking; carrying, cleaning, sorting and building PolyParadise year-round here in Phoenix. Special Thanks to (Armella, Corvus, Sandman, Cactus Man, Neefer, Bob, Kim, Dr. Dirt, Daniel, Canyon, Starfish, Dave, Dance Boy, Laura, Ken, Becky, Luna Tickles, Missy, Sam, Scott, Charles , Randy, TC, Caerrean, Loophole,  Sprinkman). Back in the day circa 2006 it was only WildChild & I that represented Arizona in PolyParadise.  It is amazing to have had 28 AZBurners in our camp this year. Thank you all so very much!!!

    Thanks to the Truck Packing & Unpacking Crew! It is so much fun to share the excitement of PolyParadise hitting the road with all of you!!! As well as that feeling as we Unpack with everything and get re-playafied once again. You guys are GREAT!

    Thank you to the 67 International campers from (Austria Australia Brazil Canada Chile Egypt France Germany Israel Mauritius Morocco Spain Switzerland Thailand UK) for making PolyParadise your Playa HOME!

    Special thanks to all the Playa Virgins that decided to make PolyParadise their First Home on the Playa. I hope your experience was awesome and that Burning Man, The Playa, BRC and the rest of us instilled in you a LOVE for the week leading up to Labor Day that your excitement will have you camping again with us next year. Each of you gave & gave & gave of your time & effort and we all Thank You.

    A VERY SPECIAL CALLOUT to Trevor for taking a 28-Day vacation from Edmonton Canada and OHHH SOOO being the ALL AROUND RIGHT HAND of what we created. I LOVE YOU Brother! You have such a community heart and the muscles to back that up.  Thanks for being the BBQ Charcoal CZAR with me for Trash Can Turkey. I very much enjoyed working with you and spending some quality BRO time with you on our Playa walks. I depend on you for a lot on site and you are always there with a smile and of course your community HEART! 

    A HUGE THANK YOU to ALL CAMPERS for making our new model of camp responsibilities Volunteeratoldism a SUCCESS.  I was not sure that doing away with Middle Management (Leads) was the right answer but this new model proved to be very viable and I Thank each camper for stepping up to their One (1) randomly assigned job/task.

    Early Arrival - Many, Many thanks to all of our Early Arrival crew. Kudos go out to all of you for your tireless efforts to get the camp erected. The crew was awesome!!! We rocked the house and had the entire infrastructure up in the air by Saturday afternoon; we were ready to put in all the electrical infrastructure (Cords, Lights, Stereo, UV-Light, Tapestries); The kitchen was getting setup and functional - THEN THE WIND/DUST CAME.  After hours of 75mph Wind/Dust - much of our structures had been destroyed.  By the light of day on Sunday - there were ~50 of the 10' EMT Conduit poles that were bent beyond use across multiple structures. The kitchen structure needed to be totally dismantled; the Community space and Event space needed to dismantled and rebuilt.

    Special Callout to Alex; I consider myself LUCKY to have you as a friend and as a PolyParadise Camper.  Thank you for taking on making the spaghetti of electrical cords from one side of the kitchen towards the generator.  You are AWESOME!!!  Thanks as well for adding an amazing Laser Drum Machine on top of the PolyParadise UV Sign - what an incredible art project that was different for every person who interacted with it. THANK YOU Alex/Morpho!

    Thanks to Guami & all of The Twisted Swan/Temple of Bacchus for the sharing of the 26' container truck; what a great idea for both camps to be able to store the gear that does not need to be transported back/forth to our home spaces each year.

    Thanks to all of our campers that jumped in and assisted with the massive effort to pull off Trash Can Turkey and a Thanksgiving Dinner On-Playa that includes prepping & knife skills in all things Turkeys, Stuffing, Gravy, Mash Potatoes, Cranberry Sauce.

    Many thanks to Trevor, Cactusman & Skippy being the designated drivers of the RV and 2nd U-Haul Truck and for getting the Pin Flags set for the layout of PolyParadise and the RV service Roads in a timely manner.

    Major Kudos to the organizers of all of our Playa Events. You all are aces in my book!!! Thanks to everyone who assisted in each and every event. The events are as much for us as a camp as well as sharing with the Playa Citizenry. Poly High Tea, Human Carcass Wash, Improv Street Theater, Conscious Connected Breath Work, Intimate Sculptures, Energy & Sexual Activation Ritual, Poly Speed Dating, Social History of Kissing, Senior Sex Chat; Shabari 101; Improv Games
    and of course EVERY DAY & The Temple of Bacchus & EVERY NIGHT @ THE TWISTED SWAN!!

    Speaking of the Carcass Wash...Many thanks go to Touch and EVERY CAMPER that assisted in the Human Carcass Wash. A HUGE THANKS to everyone else who helped with Setup & Cleanup and to those that ran the event each day.

    Major thanks and kudos to Cactusman & Skippy for taking a 26' U-haul out of BRC on Saturday by 10:00p heading towards Reno/Sparks to attempt to find any available 10' EMT conduit pieces.  Kudos because they did not return until Monday with a few spare pieces they were able to find.

    MAJOR KUDOS to Trevor & Alex/Morpho - our electrical GURUS.  The (2) Honda EU 7000W we rented in conjunction with the Battery Brick and the two Yellow Distro boxes we were able to provide a way for us to have continual power to the Shower & Sink pumps and critical lights within the Kitchen & Community space when the Generator was off or had run out of gas. 

    Special thanks to Skippy; I depended on you quite a bit for many many many things and you were always willing to do the work - even the dirty work.  I appreciate you LOTS!

    Special callout to Endeavor for taking on the task that 'When' the United Site Services Pumper Truck arrived they knew which RV's needed to be serviced that day.

    Thanks to all those that provided meals for the Early Arrival Crew Meal Plan. It was awesome to have food available to us after a hard days work ERECTING PolyParadise.

    Thanks to ALL CAMPERS that came by in April for the annual Work-Party at Casa De Scotto/WildChild. Look forward to seeing you all again in 2026.

    Thanks to everyone who provided & prepared food for Community Meals, Washing Dishes, all who helped out when it was needed, for taking garbage home with you, for knowing what building community & sharing community is all about.

    MAJOR Thanks to all our veteran & NEW BRC Rangers in our camp - we appreciate your service to the Playa Citizens!!!!

    Thanks to HAJI for being not only a 42yr friend but for all the things you do On-Playa quite selflessly - I hope you return to BRC soon.

    A SECOND THANKS     to Trevor for 29 days of time together. You and I have been doing this thing side-by-side for 14 years. I very much enjoy our Bromance; we just work well together; you know what needs to be done and you are never afraid to get your hands dirty. I look forward to doing this all again in 2026.  Double Kudos to Trevor for making a December visit to Phoenix; we were able to have a chat about all the issues that face us as a camp and its infrastructure.  We were also able to get a head start on some fixes and needed adjustments to some key systems the camps function depend on.

    Thanks to Guami and the ENTIRE Twisted Swan & Temple of Bacchus camps for partnering and being a HUBS (Humans Uniting For Better Sustainability) with us - what an awesome thing to have a BAR as part of our camp space.

    Thanks to everyone that went out with us as a camp to watch the Man BURN!  There are many people you can spend the BURN with - I was so happy that over 30 people made the trek out with us and saw those HUGE FIREBALLS THAT ROCKED THE MAN'S BALLS together.

    Thanks to all of our campers that create ART outside of camp - in 2026 I want to make sure we have something within the Community Space that highlights who you are and where your Art piece is located so all of our campers can get a chance to see them.

    Thanks to Monica for ALL THE THINGS in making camp a success; your attention to detail is appreciated.

    Thanks to Stephanie 'Constellatia Stardust' Helard for being the Photographer for our annual Camp Photo which took place on Friday.

    Thanks to Trevor for a lot of things but this one is directed towards your lead and assistance in getting the Human Carcass Wash structure created and functional on Thursday of the event.

    Thanks to Muppet & Hummingbird for utilizing available space on the trailer that transported their registered Disabled Vehicle for taking many of the destroyed silver tarps, canvas tarps and bags of garbage off-playa; appreciate YOU BOTH!!

    Thanks to the Twisted Swan campers that made sure that the 10' EMT Conduit pieces that were 'Slightly Bent' were taken to Barbie Death Camp to utilize their Pole Strainghtener; we appreciate you making sure that our camp was taken care of too.

    Special thanks to the Burning Man Shopping Day Crew (Kickstand, Kathryn, Craig, Lee) Spending $2,800 of your money then unpacking it all - Thanks so much!!!

    Thank you to all campers that went and retrieved Ice for the camp as well as other campers over the course of the week.

    Thank You & Major Kudos goes to V for spending many days and many hours doing dishes, cleaning pots - cleaning the kitchen - Your efforts did not go unnoticed.

    KUDOS & SPECIAL THANKS to Touch!!! First for being YOU, your laugh and amazing community Heart & Body are INFECTIOUS!!!  Thanks for being patient with all the things concerning the Human Carcass Wash.  You were very understanding that the (3) structures for the event were repurposed in the umpteenth rebuilds of the camps structures.  Thanks as well for your persistence & assistance in getting the event up and running on Thursday; it was a HUGE hit for 3 days for sure!!

    SPECIAL THANKS to our 2025 Benefactor for donating the funds for us to purchase a New double-sided Hand Washing Station.

    Special Callout to all of the Twisted Swan campers that created a Community Meal in our kitchen & MAJOR KUDOS to those Twisted Swan Campers that took charge in the kitchen several days making sure the space was functional & clean for the next group of campers to use.

    To those that camped elsewhere or who were unable to make BM this year, your spirit was always part of PolyParadise, and know that you were deeply missed & loved in this group.

    As each year passes; the journey of BRC & PolyParadise just gets better & better; this only happens because there is so much love and effort from all of you; a love of PolyParadise; a Love of Burning Man and of Community. There are so many people that give of themselves, give without thinking about how long it will take or how heavy something is, so many people that give of themselves!!  THANK YOU!!!

    Burning Man is a year-round event at Casa De Scxotto/WildChild; we take the contents of our garage out to the desert and create together an amazing, loving space on the hallowed ground of the Black Rock Desert. Thank you ALL for assisting me in creating PolyParadise.

    I LOVE THIS STUFF!!!!

    Only 245 days until we Burn again. Each of those days will have thoughts of all you and how good I feel having each of you as my friends and part of my family - Playa Love!!

    Scotto
    - Camp Daddy
    - Benevolent Dictator Village of PolyParadise
    - Burning Man Lifer/Geek/Zealot