Artists and Burners and Witches, Oh My!

As Beatty gears up for its biggest annual event, Beatty Days, next weekend, this last weekend was certainly no slouch.

First, Goldwell Open Air Museum held its 40th anniversary celebration in Rhyolite. This marked the 40th anniversary of the creation of the museum’s seminal piece, Albert Szukalski’s ghostly Last Supper sculpture.

The celebration continued at the Red Barn Art Center in Bullfrog, including video presentations, a lecture and a play about Szukalski, with live music by Toasters ’n Moose and the UNLV Percussion Ensemble. The UNLV group performed a piece composed by Stotz during his Goldwell residency in the Barn.

Attendees crafted miniature “ghosts” using old GI Joe action figures and rocks to stand in for the live models used by Szukalski.

The second event taking place in Beatty was the annual Witches Walk. Scores of witches and a few warlocks gathered at 5:30 at the Atomic Inn to choose their witch names for the evening before beginning the walk from establishment to establishment in town partaking of food and libations along the way. This popular event even draws witches from out of town, and the costumes, including custom-made brooms, involve considerable creativity.

Next, Spicer Ranch hosted SNRG, the Southern Nevada Regional Gathering, a Burning Man event. The Burners, numbering about 550, began arriving at the ranch on Wednesday. They seemed undaunted by a wind storm that destroyed some pop-up shade shelters or by the cooler-than-anticipated weather.

SNRG culminated Saturday night with a fireworks display followed by the traditional burning of the “man” and the “temple.” Not only are the fireworks and the burn spectacular, but the same can be said about the assembled Burners, many of whom sport colored light displays in their clothing, and some arrive to the burn in colorfully lighted vehicular creations.

All in all, the weekend before Beatty Days was anything but boring.

Richard Stephens is a freelance reporter living in Beatty.