The last of the hundreds and hundreds of spires that have sprung up in Black Rock City was put in the ground late in the afternoon yesterday. A lot of the people who’ve been digging and pounding and putting up shade and everything else took a little time out to celebrate finishing the task.

It was funny to see all the Mad Max buggies and buses steaming across the desert floor (btw, I am consciously avoiding the use of the word “playa” from here on out. I can’t bring myself to say it or write it anymore. It’s a fine word, and useful, in that you can describe yourself as being “on the playa” instead of, say, at the Ranch or in Gerlach or Reno. But there’s something about “the playa” that’s beginning to grate on me (and yes, the event hasn’t even begun yet). What is it? What’s happening? Am I losing the glow? I don’t think so, but still …)

So anyway, there we were, in the golden light of late afternoon (which is something you NEVER get tired of!), steaming to a spot between 3 and 6 over near the Ghetto (where the DPW folks live), some music happening, maybe a beer or two being opened, to watch the rebar get hammered into the ground to support the spire. There was lots of hollering and whooping as the sledge got passed around, and when the post finally went up, people started to dance around it and hammer pieces of “art” on it to decorate. So check it out when you’re over there; it stands for a lot of what’s happened here so far.

So without anymore la di da, here are some of the folks who took some time out for a little party. (And of course, when it was all over in an hour or so, a lot of them went back to work.)

More pics after the jump, so the page doesn’t take so long to load: