2009 AquaZone Water Bar:
Dare I say it? But 2009 was our BEST YEAR EVER! We were back with renewed energy, an expanded camp footprint, and a KICK ASS crew! The Water Bar continued to delight participants with a cool and refreshing environment in which to escape the heat. Connections were made far and wide -- even the Emergency Room doctor that Max went to after the event to get his stitches taken out said "oh, yes, I went to your Water Bar! It was great! Check out Sarah's photos on Flickr, but here's a taste!
The bar this year sported a new longer, prettier solid-wood painted bar top and Cowboy bar stools made from saddles (thanks to our cowboy Walter).
(Most of) our AWESOME crew in 2009!.
Sitting down to dinner as a camp remains one of the highlights of camp life -- well, that and our own camp Cocktail Hour.
2008 AquaZone Haitus:
In 2008 Andy took a break to be home with his new son, and Sarah stayed home for health reasons. But Max attended with his son's Zombie and Dream Time Circus camp and performed a wedding and Susie and Walter did a mini-version of AquaZone and discovered new friends at Camp Bambooze.
AquaZone 2007:
2007 and "The Green Man" found us teaming up with Burning Road Show, camped right behind Burners without Borders. Michael was on the playa weeks early to help install the solar array that powered the Man. The AquaLove Water Bar was alive and thriving, now offering not only water tastings, but self -serve water for any and all passers by.
AquaZone on Center Circle 2006:
In 2006, we registered AquaZone and our AquaLove Water Bar as part of the "Hope and Fear" theme and were placed right on Center Circle, on the outside ring of Center Camp. We had 32 people in camp and the Water Bar was a great success! People were delighted to discover the subtle differences in taste between different waters, and intrigued to find out about Masaru Emoto's work photographing the effects of our mental energy on water crystals.
Once again Michael brought an art car out from Kentucky, this time it was a tropical oasis pulled by a motorboat that towed "water skiers" on a cross-country skateboard.
AquaZone is born 2005:
In 2005, the year of "Psyche", AquaZone was born out of a desire to bring some paradoxical cool lushness to the desert with the blue dome, a solor powered fountain and a fancy banner proclaiming our name. We hadn't conceived of the water ba ridea yet, but 2005 was a big year for our camp as we hosted Andy's sister's wedding. Max officated and neighboring camps attended the festivities.
Our art car was the fabulous Rocket Launcher, brought all the way from Kentucky by Michael.
Connect-the-dots Constellations in 2004:
For the 2004 "Vault of Heaven" theme, we created a huge chalk board with glow-in-the-dark dots on it, put out cans of chalk, and invited people to make their own connect-the-dots constellations. The final group artwork was amazing!
Parking Karma Zone 2003:
For 2003, Sarah's sister and parents joined the group giving us a 3-Generation span. Our theme camp for "Beyond Belief" was The Parking Karma Zone with parking meters all around the perimeter where people could deposit "coins" to get good Parking Karma from "parking 10 blocks away" to "finding an open meter" to "parking at the front door".
Michael also had his first art car that year, a rig with wings and a big porch swing.
A Burning Man Family Since 2002
Like many Burning Man stories, ours started with a number of happy coincidences. Sarah and Max started coming to Burning Man in 2000, and brought their 13 yr-old son the next year in 2001. By 2002, their son's best friend wanted to join them, but his parent's weren't sure they wanted their teenage son to go the such a wild and unknown event -- so they did the only sensible thing and decided to come along too. The dad said, "hey, I work with a woman who's husband is a Burner, let's see if they want to camp with us too!", and that's how Sarah and Max met Andy and his dad, Michael, who comes out every year from Kentucky.