I wanted to bring some of the other-worldly artistic magic of Burning Man to Canada. Specifically, I wanted it to be a more accessible way to have those art and adventure experiences without the significant cost and time needed to visit Black Rock City in Nevada.

A small group of similarly excited people formed a new non-profit corporation to make this happen, and after a rocky first year, I took on the role of President. My role was to both build organisational structure and process, and also put a heavy focus on building relationships with the local township that hosted the event.

I worked tirelessly to talk with the surrounding neighbours to the event grounds, find out their concerns, and put together plans to address them. We ran multiple public discussions with the township council and hosted our own events at the local church hall to address general concerns and quell the many misconceptions about what the event was.

After over 6 months of negotiations, the event was successfully hosted on land owned by the Township, and continues in it’s 6th year of operation now under a new name of Sideburn. The local Township council have become supporters and the event has grown from 300 to over 900 participants. I’m so happy to have been part of creating the event and can’t wait to see where it goes next.