Sharon Kolbet/DN A 70-foot-tall wooden man towers above Black Rock Desert in northwest Nevada. The man was the center of the annual weeklong festival known as Burning Man.

It pauses briefly, opening its mouth to spew flames.

The mechanical creature stops near a crowd, and dozens of eager passengers climb aboard.

The fire-breathing dragon-bus is just one of the many pieces of pyrotechnic art at the annual festival known as Burning Man.

Every August thousands of people gather in the Black Rock Desert north of Reno, Nev., to watch a 40-foot-tall wooden man go up in flames. The burning of the wooden man is the culmination of a seven-day festival devoted to the creation of art and community.

Lincoln resident Fred Mausolf traveled to the desert this year to take part in what he describes as "a living, performance-art festival."

Mausolf, 59, calls Nebraska his home 51 weeks of the year. But while he is camping at Burning Man, the ophthalmologist and avant-garde musician considers himself a resident of Black Rock City.

This city is a temporary community. It rises from the empty Black Rock Desert every year with the help of hundreds of volunteers. They dismantle the city at the end of the festival and leave the desert without a trace.

Sharon Kolbet/DN Two giant die attract attention in the middle of the Nevada desert. Visitors to Burning Man festival could enter the dice through a side door. The interior of the die featured plush red decor, a fully staffed bar, a mini casino and a jazz club.

During its brief existence, the city's more than 25,000 residents create a postal service, a bus system and coffee house. All of these services are staffed by volunteers.

Tents and recreational vehicles line the circular streets inside the desert village. At the middle of the gathering sits a small café, a place where people can gather for live music and coffee sales.

But those who are looking for the souvenir tent will be disappointed: Coffee and ice are the only two commodities you can purchase at Burning Man.

This is a place where money becomes almost obsolete. With no corporate sponsors, no commercial T-shirt sales, Mausolf says Black Rock City uses the barter system as well as a policy of "gift giving."

Down the street from Mausolf's camp, Tim Birch's art installation known as the "Velvet Elvis Shrine" exemplifies this money-free exchange.

Birch hands out free T-shirts to passers-by and encourages them to leave messages on the memorial.

North of the Elvis shrine and past the center camp, one of the event's largest art installations draws a crowd. The wooden structure that towers above the parched desert is known as the "Temple of Tears."

The "Temple of Tears" is an imposing structure. The art piece has the design of a Chinese pagoda with the detail of a gothic cathedral.

Made of 2,500 wooden panels, the temple's central spire reaches nearly 50 feet in the air.

The structure is made of wooden panels from a puzzle factory, says David Best, a California artist and director of the temple project. The temple, which features an elaborate interior complete with three main altars and numerous alcoves, left many participants in awe.

The effort to create the community is inspiring, says Mark Nemeth, University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate and San Francisco resident.

"It is amazing the stuff people drag out to the desert," he says.

Lincoln resident James Barnes agrees.

The 36-year-old musician says walking along the streets of Black Rock City can be a surreal experience.

"From a distance, the place looks like a circus," he says. "It is like walking through a Fellini film."

After watching people pull a cotton candy machine through the city Nemeth adds, "Sometimes it feels like a weird state fair."

At the close of the festivities, thousands of people gather to watch the man burn.

Flame-throwing vehicles circle the site. These pyrotechnic trucks shoot streams of fire 70 feet into the air while fireworks explode above the crowd.

The intense heat radiating from the burning man causes whirlwinds resembling small tornadoes to form.

Onlookers say it is like a religious experience.

Burning Man 2001 is coming to a close.

As the people walk past the center camp, they encounter a neatly painted bit of graffiti. Along the wall of the coffee café, an anonymous artist has written the words many feel summarize the Burning Man experience:

"There is no light without heat. He who does not burn illuminates nothing."