An Irish man at Burning Man: A mud bath, not a flood apocalypse

Brendon Deacy didn't let unexpected weather spoil the experience of a lifetime

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Brendon Deacy (58) artist and lecturer at NCAD, at the Burning Man festival in Nevada. Photograph: Brendon Deacy
Brendon Deacy (58) artist and lecturer at NCAD, at the Burning Man festival in Nevada. Photograph: Brendon Deacy

Co Laois man Brendon Deacy (58) arrived at the Burning Man festival in the northern Nevada desert prepared for heat and dust – not the heavy rain that fell on the last weekend of the nine-day counterculture jamboree.

The artist and NCAD lecturer tells In the News about arriving in the camper van with his four grown-up children, how the festival lived up to his expectations, and more – and how the media made a drama out of a mini-crisis.

Yes, it rained but the festival went on, with mud underfoot and a bit of unexpected discomfort. In the end, the man burned. Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey and Declan Conlon.

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison is an Irish Times journalist and cohost of In the News podcast