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Ditch the Dust: 5 Good and Green Alternatives to Burning Man
Ditch the Dust: 5 Good and Green Alternatives to Burning Man
Love a good outdoor festival but want trees and flowers instead of dust and mud? We hear you and have some ideas
By: Stacy Morrison
Itâs that time of year again, when your Instagram feed is overrun with images of people who purport to be partying in the desert â but who look like they are on a Mad Max cosplay adventure, battling the elements, be they fire, alkaline dust, or, in case of rain, epic mud. And some people call that fun.
Good for you, if dust storms and ketamine are your thing â truly, no judgment, burn on, Burning Man. But there's a whole other kind of gathering thatâs more about flower fields, rustling leaves, and the scent of pine. These festivals deliver the same sense of community with an arty out-there vibe. Theyâll lift you up and connect you deeply to nature, but goggles are definitely not needed.
Telluride Mushroom Festival
Telluride, CO; usually held in August
What It Is: A five-day conference and cultural gathering where mycologists and fungi fanatics commune with these mighty mycorrhizae.
The Promise: âCelebrating all things fungi and their impact on our worldâ sounds twee until you're standing on Main Street watching adults parade past in botanically accurate hand-sewn fungi costumes, and something in you unclenches.
The Payoff: Workshops and foraging walks with actual mycologists, a "mini-mycosexual retreat" that invites you to feel moss and sniff the soil, and a wild-foraged, chef-prepared dinner, made from food culled on a dayslong quest.
What You'll Come Away With: An earned disregard for hopelessly run-of-the-mill white mushrooms, a few Latin names you'll deploy at dinner parties, and the sore feet of someone who danced too hard at the Puff Ball, the festival's closing dance party.
The Instagram Souvenir Photo: You, mid-parade, in a morel costume, with your arms slung around a new BFF whoâs dressed as a chanterelle or deadly destroying angel âshroom.
Electric Forest
Rothbury, MI; 2027 dates to be announced
What It Is: A four-day music and lights festival set in Michiganâs Sherwood Forest.
The Promise: âThe forest itself is part of the showâ â and unlike many festival taglines, this one isn't an overstatement.
The Payoff: Wander beneath canopies strung with massive installations woven into the trees as you get your groove on, whether youâre into electro-funk, hyperpop, tech house, trap, nu-disco, indie-rock, or jam bands. Need a break? Then detour to a scavenger hunt, a sunrise 5K, or claim a hammock for yourself to rest up for the nightâs festivities.
What You'll Come Away With: The specific exhaustion of someone who danced until 4 a.m. under a dream-like forest glowing with lights.
The Instagram Souvenir Photo: You, backlit by massive neon-bright light installations, wearing a crown of flowers and looking like a fairy descended from Tron.
FarmLuxe
San Juan Island, WA; various dates in 2027
What It Is: A âLuxury Flower and Nature Retreat for Womenâ set on 12 acres of Pinterest-worthy flower gardens.
The Promise: Breathtaking gardens reimagined as a floral dreamscape that fosters creativity and connection. Donât expect spectacle â itâs all about stillness.
The Payoff: Painting, journaling, gentle movement, landscape walks, and âflower therapy,â a guided sensory wellness practice that involves breathwork and blooms.
What You'll Come Away With: A sense of peace you can't quite explain to people back home, a flower-arranging habit you'll claim as your lifeline, and a few new friends who also needed to unplug and admire nature.
The Instagram Souvenir Photo: You, in a sprawling field of dahlias, holding a bouquet the same way the landscape is holding you.
Firefly Gathering
Blue Ridge Mountains, NC; July 2027, dates TBD
What It Is: âThe largest earthskills gathering in the country.â
The Promise: An âopen invitation to fall in love with the living worldâ (who could resist that?)
The Payoff: Choose from 300-plus classes in firecraft, hide-tanning, fiber arts, bow-making, herbal medicine, and foraging. Work-trade tickets get you in at half price if you're willing to sweat for it. Evenings run to live music, poetry, and drumming under a sky full of fireflies.
What You'll Come Away With: A genuinely useful skill (fire-starting, at minimum), the dream of retiring to be a homesteader, and the pride that comes from being fully, physically present in your body for six straight days.
The Instagram Souvenir Photo: You, soot-streaked, holding a bow you carved yourself, looking like you could survive an apocalypse.
Into the Wild Gathering
East Grinstead, West Sussex, England; typically held in August
What It Is: A four-day gathering in the Sussex woods where you master ancestral crafts and dance across three stages featuring world, folk, and electronic music.
The Promise: âWhere ancient wisdom meets modern creativityâ â fire circles, tribal singing, and land stewardship. This could be the perfect use for your stash of frequent flyer miles.
The Payoff: Sharing knowledge and togetherness with people who have the same pagan leanings as you. Plus the opportunity to dress up as your favorite English archetype: forest sprite, medieval wench, court jester, druid, highwayman, or â if youâre feeling ambitious â full Tudor finery. Part of every ticket funds Wilderlands, a sister project restoring land across the UK, so any hangover you experience is, in a small way, doing conservation work.
What You'll Come Away With: A new appreciation for hand-drumming as cardio and the quiet sense that youâve tapped into something older than history itself.
The Instagram Souvenir Photo: You, dancing around a fire circle at dusk, drum in hand, with your silhouette delivering all the vibes that a caption canât.
About the Writer
Stacy Morrison is a writer and brand consultant based in the Hudson Valley and is cofounder and Chief Strategy Officer at Clinton Haworth Collective, a marketing and communications agency. Her gardens are still very much at the center of her life, and she continues to learn from them every season.