What you do defines who you are. We do some really offbeat stuff, so that should tell you something.

The MWB Historical Timeline at right lists only major decisions and selected event highlights.

Tracking The Times Gone By

This section preserves a record of our group's history. Highlights, major changes, association organized events, stats, and important decisions are archived here.

If any members feel that this section needs to be updated, please type something up and send it to Zay for consideration.

2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003

2011

    • May 12-15: InterFuse 2011, at the Shriners Club Campground in Laquey, Missouri.
      • Theme: Circus Maximus
      • Effigy: The Fun House
      • Participants: 812
      InterFuse 2011 Volunteer Hall Of Fame
      Photos
      Videos
      As expected, the event's venue change to southern Missouri resulted in an attendance drop from the previous year. There was mild wind damage to the Main Effigy's mechanism and rain was heavy at times. Despite the rain, the campground's gravel roads remained trustworthy. The new land and facilities could easily support 2,000 Burners without modification.

2010

2009

    • September 26-27: HullabalU 2009, at Ozark Avalon in Boonville, Missouri.
      • No theme or association-organized effigy burn
      • Participants: 100
      HullabalU 2009 Volunteer Hall Of Fame
      Photos
    • April 30 - May 3: InterFuse 2009, at Ozark Avalon in Boonville, Missouri.
      • Theme: Aquatic Inferno
      • Effigy: The Sea Serpents
      • Participants: 881
      InterFuse 2009 Volunteer Hall Of Fame
      Photos
      Videos
      What began with rain and mud turned into beautiful weather long before we burned The Sea Serpents. The Main Effigy burn time was moved back to 10:00 PM. Pre-burn pyrotechnics were increased again this year, notably, a series of explosions that began the burn. The muddy road made some off-site parking necessary. Ticket price was raised to $30.

2008

    • May 1-4: InterFuse 2008, at Ozark Avalon in Boonville, Missouri.
      • Theme: Technophilia/Technophobia
      • Effigy: The Television
      • Participants: 770
      InterFuse 2008 Volunteer Hall Of Fame
      Photos
      Videos
      We burned The Television, a giant wooden effigy that also served as a performance stage for three days before it was ignited. Pre-burn pyrotechnics were increased this year. Formal parking areas were created to preserve the land.

2007

    • October 13-14: HullabalU 2007, at Ozark Avalon in Boonville, Missouri.
      • No theme or association-organized effigy burn
      • Participants: 121
      HullabalU 2007 Volunteer Hall Of Fame
      Photos
      • Largest Art Burned: The Shape, by Lohr
    • September 15: Minors Policy at Association-organized events changed and resolved.
    • August 18-19: Shipwrecked 2007, at Ozark Avalon. Maev organized it with assistance from Mooncrest and FD. The event was again all ages.
    • July 31: InterFuse was permanently set for the first weekend in May every year.
    • May 3-6: InterFuse 2007, at Ozark Avalon in Boonville, Missouri.
      • Theme: The AfterLife?
      • Effigy: Pyre-amid
      • Participants: 710
      InterFuse 2007 Volunteer Hall Of Fame
      Photos
      Videos 1
      Videos 2
      We burned the Pyre-amid, a spiral staircase set on top of a pyramid. The Pyre-amid was our first climbable effigy. A fourth day was added to the event and ticket prices increased to $25 to cover the additional expense.

2006

    • October 14-15: HullabalU 2006, at Ozark Avalon in Boonville, Missouri.
      • No theme or association-organized effigy burn
      • Participants: 166
      HullabalU 2006 Volunteer Hall Of Fame
      Photos
    • August 25-27: The orphan burn was renamed Shipwrecked and organized by Tony Kaos and co-organized by FD. The event also included children for the first time.
      Photos
    • June 16: The IRS recognized Midwest Burners as a 501(c)(7) tax exempt non-profit organization.
    • May 5-7: InterFuse 2006, at Ozark Avalon in Boonville, Missouri.
      • Theme: The Archaic Imagination
      • Effigy: The Pantheon
      • Participants: 486
      InterFuse 2006 Volunteer Hall Of Fame
      Photos
      We burned The Pantheon, a cross shaped platform and gallows frame that supported myraid personal effigies, gods, and mythical creatures.

2005

    • October 8-9: HullabalU 2005, at Ozark Avalon in Boonville, Missouri.
      • No theme or association-organized effigy burn
      • Participants: approx. 80
      HullabalU 2005 Volunteer Hall Of Fame
      Photos
      The event was still free, but now participants had to pay Ozark Avalon a camp fee. Only open to members and their guests.
    • August 26-28: Castaway 2005, at Ozark Avalon in Boonville, Missouri.
      • Effigy: The Palm
      • Participants: approx. 220
      Photos
      Our palm tree effigy had big, cardboard fronds and it burned from the top down. Organized by Aldric and Celebration.
    • May 13-15: InterFuse 2005, at Ozark Avalon in Boonville, Missouri.
      • Theme: Mad Science
      • Effigy: Der FrankenMann
      • Participants: 383
      InterFuse 2005 Volunteer Hall Of Fame
      Photos
      Videos 1
      Videos 2
      We burned Der FrankenMann, a conglomeration of independently created appendages attached to a torso and swiveling table.
    • January 10: Midwest Burners adopts Articles of Association and became a non-profit social and recreational association.

2004

    • September 9-10: HullabalU II, at the Tribal Vision farm outside of Lawrence, Kansas.
      • Theme: Celestial Disembarkment
      • Effigy: Prairie Grass Spaceman
      • Participants: approx. 140
      HullabalU 2004 Volunteer Hall Of Fame
      Photos
      The size of HullabalU expanded from the previous year to include more attendees and camping areas near the lake. Prairie Grass Spaceman (with an alien pumplin head) watched over the event until midnight when he went up in flames amid crouds of dancers and drummers. HullabalU II was a great success and went all night long. The event was inundated by clueless partiers so MWB decided to focus on quality and organic growth, not quantity. We also decided to not wear ourselves out with Association organized burn and pre-burn performances at future HullabalUs.
    • August 27-29: Castaway, our first orphan burn, at Camp Gaea in McClouth, Kansas.
      We camped on "The Ridge" and partied through a storm of monumental proportions. Organized by Aldric and Celebration.
    • June 24: The Midwest Burners website goes online. http://www.midwestburners.com
    • April 23-25: Our first InterFuse, the Midwest Regional Burn, at Ozark Avalon in Boonville, Missouri.
      • Theme: Can we make this thang happen??
      • Effigy: Wheaty
      • Participants: 186
      InterFuse 2004 Volunteer Hall Of Fame
      Photos
      Videos 1
      Videos 2
      We burned Wheaty, a man shaped structure that had wheat bundles for hands. Wheaty later became the Midwest Burners' symbol.

2003

    • October 11: The first HullabalU, a free event outside of Lawrence, Kansas in Johnny Carcaz's yard.
      • Effigy: Scarecrow Man
      • Participants: approx. 80
      HullabalU 2003 Volunteer Hall Of Fame
      Photos
      If you weren't there, you missed great decorations, art (blacklight too), bonfires, DJs, dance & psytrance, drummers, firespinners, a huge full moon, costumes, and a groovy crowd. The Scarecrow Man burned at midnight.
      HullabalU 2003 Recap, as printed in Jack Rabbit Speaks
      Jack Rabbit Speaks
      Burning Man's Official Newsletter

      RECAP OF KC'S AFTERBURN MASTERPIECE

      A handful of folks from the Kansas City area made the pilgrimage to Burning Man this year. While on the playa, we decided to bring the Fire back home with us. Since then, a small burner community has formed. We held our first decompression on October 11th outside Lawrence, Kansas. We dubbed this event our "HullabalU", which means, "a confused noise; uproar; tumult. A disturbance usually in protest." The final concept was, "HullabalU: the party starts with YOU."

      The HullabalU was a tremendous success! We were rained on early that day while we put up this giant parachute our playa neighbor Tom gave us. (Thanks Tom!) But we held out hope for decent weather as we were covered in playa dust mud from the chute. We ended up with a beautiful clear Autumn night complete with a full glowing moon. Area DJs, Clandestine, Tha Carcaz and AC rocked us throughout the night with psytrance, jungle and downtempo sounds. At midnight, fire dancers from the local group, 3rd Degree Burn, mesmerized us. They ended their performance by lighting the scarecrow Man to the sound of the local West African drum circle, Djembe Kaan. The scarecrow Man proudly burned for a very long time before falling. His remains became the tribal bonfire.

      The whole experience felt like a piece of BRC had landed in Kansas! Participants were even randomly dusted with playa dust, from this year's Burn. The amazing thing was how many of our friends who hadn't ever been to Burning Man, thought of novel ways to participate. Even the neighbors, coming back from the strip clubs, wandered by and hung out with us. The atmosphere was thick and magical.

      We plan to have more HullabalUs and other assorted happenings between Burns. If anyone is interested, especially burners from our region, we have a Yahoo Group at:

      http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MidwestBurners

      Please post an introduction when you join because lurking is not participating!
    • September 11: Zay started the MWB Yahoo Group and Midwest Burners was founded.
    • August 25 - September 1: Burning Man, Black Rock Desert, Nevada.
      The Kansas Refugee Camp decided to throw a local burn event when they got home.

2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003