There are many residents who see the week(s) of Burning Man to be an imposition on their way of life. Strangers with weird clothes and tattoos walking around town, traffic piling up, longer waiting at the only store for miles. It's also the week school begins, and the event is a big distraction, making it difficult for the school bus to make its rounds, enticing students to participate rather than begin their studies. Other visitors, especially hunters, also complain of increased traffic. Litter is also an issue-- although Taz's crew does a bang up job of dealing with all the crap that escaped people's vehicles on their way out of town. After Burning Man, while the playa restoration crew is living in town, there are sometimes raw nerves from people partying late when locals need to work early in the morning.

For others, these challenges are less obtrusive. Many locals enjoy the excitement, though these are less vocal than the detractors. Some folks have started to capitalize on the event by setting up small businesses on Main Street-- Cleo had a lunch wagon on Main and Sunset for weeks after the event, and Sylvia set up a costume and provision shop with some other vendors selling cheese steaks from her property. Two different taxidermists set up displays and have been doing so for years. Ralph does a bicycle business with proceeds supporting the high school basketball team. Bruno does a brisk business. The restaurant feeds staff before and after the event, and there is increased business in the dining room from participants, law enforcement, and so on. Bruno's trailer park is booked through the end of clean-up, and the hotel is full of law enforcement for a large chunk of time, too. He also rents a house year-round to the BLM. His grandson Willy has a trucking business and gets a fair amount of work from Burning Man, as do several locals who work for him as drivers. Willy and Farmer are ostensibly DPW.

I don't know that people just leave Gerlach rather than deal with Burning Man. If they have jobs, they have to work-- if they are retired, they can just stay home. Some of them attend the event, which seems like a good strategy to me.