I thought I had seen it all when it comes to outdoor festivals in the Northwest. I've attended dozens and dozens of outdoor events of various varieties, was heavily involved in all the phoenix festivals including organizing full blown theme camps, helped bankroll a few earthdances and big name psytrance acts here and there, and have been going to Burning Man for half a decade. But none of these things were as fulfilling as Critical Massive 2009.
Critical Massive is affiliated with the wider Burning Man community and is the NW regional Burn. It's basically a mini Burning Man. My campmate
bakeme put it well when he said CM encapsulates most everything he loves about BM while excluding most everything he dislike about BM. Both are absolute Temporary Autonomous Zones where you can do whatever you want, both have the same amazingly unique open and friendly vibe, both have amazing displays of art, but they have a lot of differences too. Burning Man is a huge sprawling anonymous city where it's hard to meet people because your chance of seeing anyone twice is almost nill; there is a certain civic pride that bonds everyone but it's a little hard to tap into. Critical Massive was limited to 600 participants, was easy to explore and since you keep bumping into the same people, offers an opportunity for true community to blossom. Burning man is extreme survival desert camping that takes 16 hours to drive to and you have to carefully plan or die. Critical Massive is an hour away on pastoral glades and forest with shade, running water and a great swimming lake 10 minutes away. It's more comfortable by an order of magnitude both physically and emotionally.
I made friends with and talked to so many more people at this event then I ever have at Burning Man. I guess I'm just shocked that something so small and local could be on par, or even surpass my Burning Man experiences. I left feeling so fulfilled and enriched that I'm definitely a convert. I look forward to Critical Massive 2010 intently.
Someone who camped near us, who has been going to Burning Man forever said that Critical Massive is a lot like BM used to be in the 'old days' before it's population became so large, and that makes a lot of sense. If I had been going to BM when it was such a small vibey community only to see it blow up into a giant city, I'd be complaining about how things 'used to be' as well.