Part of making a community work is getting involved. Burning Man works because the citizens of Black Rock City participate in the success of BRC. One of the groups you can volunteer with is the Lamplighters (Tubby and I hooked up with them this year).

Lamplighters began in 1993 and has held the annual tradition of placing hundreds of lamps throughout the camp each night, using a team of about 100 volunteers each night. The teams carry and lift lanterns onto spires throughout BRC, and support folks assist those two roles. (Tubby was a carrier, but being less than a foot tall, I did the support thang.)

The nightly volunteer duty is about three hours, starting with cleaning and filling the 1,000 or so lanterns.	Once ready to roll, lanterns are set out in rows of 12 (how many the carriers tote) and lit.	As the lighting goes on, the crew is dressed in matching lamplighter robes.
The army of lamplighters march out toward center camp, and after a brief induction, light the city.	Tubby was one of the carriers. And I won't tell you which he is, but it's down to a 50/50 guess.	For our efforts, each lamplighter receives a medallion for their service (the head-looking one).