One of the two small towns near Burning Man is closing

[KamaAina]

yes, the entire town. It's owned lock, stock and barrel by a gypsum company which is closing the mine.

http://www.rgj.com/article/20101202/NEWS/101202047/Idling-of-gypsum-operation-puts-Empire-Gerlach-in-jeopardy

The company-owned town of Empire, which is 100 miles north of Reno, will go quiet after 87 years when USG Corp. halts its gypsum mine and wallboard manufacturing operations in January....

But the ripple effect of the closure could extend beyond the 300 people — employees of USG and their families — who live in company-owned apartments and single-family homes in Empire.

The area, including nearby Gerlach, is a launching point from State Route 447 for the tens of thousands of participants in the annual Burning Man festival in the Black Rock Desert.

“For them, it’s catastrophe,” Elliott Parker, economist at the University of Nevada, Reno, said of the longest-running gypsum mine in the U.S. coming to a halt. “If the idling isn’t temporary and (USG) doesn’t come back in a year or two, I’d have a hard time imagining Burning Man could continue there.”

There are enough people with money involved in Burning Man that you'd think they could just buy the place and turn it into a year-round arts town, with the festival as the year's high point.

[snooper2]

1. I thought the hardcore "burning man" folks don't need no company store

They live off the land and drink deep emotional thoughts when they get thirsty..

Or, is just about a bunch of drunks that will have to buy their beer in Reno,

Oh, it's the latter :rofl:

http://bm.tribe.net/thread/d4a3d0c3-30b0-4cc7-b369-6741fac48965

[XemaSab]

2. Maybe they could just open the quickiemart

for three weeks out of the year.

Make hella bank for a month and dry-dock it the rest of the year.

[Mopar151]

3. I saw something like this in the late 70's - Canaan NH - The Harvest Festival

James Montgomery headlined when Dr. Hook no-showed - 8000 advance tickets, 70.000 showed up 'cuz it was a beautiful Indian summer day.The village store had a huge Budwiser truck at The back door - very simple setup - 1 case of warm Budwiser, 6 bucks, cash 'n carry, no other options. The side of the road from there to the Fairgrounds was littered with guys who drank too much warm Bud in the sun, while trying to carry a case or 2 on their shoulder.