Credit: Unsplash

It’s not time for a gigantic, freewheeling festival just yet.

Ever since its inception in the 80s, the Burning Man festival in Black Rock City, Nevada has been a powerful symbol of free expression, community building, and appreciation of the arts, both in terms of physical constructs and more abstract arts like music. It’s also a pretty “loose” event, for lack of a better word, with common sights including people running around half naked and getting hilariously drunk. Thing is, though, while Burning Man is a very freewheeling event, the safety of its attendees is still of the utmost importance to its organizers, and just like last year, it ain’t entirely safe just yet, which is why Burning Man 2021 has been officially cancelled.

“The past 14 months have been a turbulent journey of evolution and change for every human on this planet,” the Burning Man project announced on its official site. “We have had to adapt to the twists and turns of a global crisis, complex public health information, and the growing hope that we can start rebuilding our lives together soon.”

The statement continued, “All of us at Burning Man Project have been busy projecting all the possible scenarios that would allow us to bring our desert city back to life in 2021. The variables are many, and our capacity to overcome challenges is high. It’s what we do.”

Organizers of the Burning Man festival announced that they were canceling their in-person event for the second straight year. https://t.co/MQgmeCTh1S

— CNN (@CNN) April 27, 2021

“Although here in the United States we may be feeling the weight lifting and the light at the end of the tunnel brightening, we are still in the pandemic, and the uncertainties that need to be resolved are impossible to resolve in the time we have,” the statement concluded.

While the normal event is off the table, the organizers are hoping to hold a virtual event around the same time, just like last year. The virtual event will feature a showcase of various art pieces, both real and virtual, and participation will be entirely free (though the organizers would appreciate it if anyone could spare some donations to keep things square).