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We Welcome the Stranger

SideBurn is a vibrant arts, cultural, and camping event held near Stone Mills, ON, from May 15-19, 2025. As an Ontario Regional Burning Man event, it brings together creative individuals to radically express themselves, share their art and offerings, and collaboratively shape a unique experience for each another.

New to the community? We’re thrilled to have you! Burning Man events are built on the principle of being Radically Inclusive, welcoming everyone who wants to join in and have an amazing time together. Now that you’re part of our community, we ask that we all take responsibility for each other’s safety and well-being. We have established safety guidelines and policies to ensure that all participants have the safest and most enjoyable experience possible.

Introducing This Year’s Theme: Chromatic Carnival

Imagine stepping into a world where every corner explodes with colour, a kaleidoscope of vibrant hues that dance across the landscape. Each camp and installation becomes a living canvas, with bold, electric shades splashing across every surface like a giant, immersive festival of light.

From the moment you arrive, you’re enveloped in a playful atmosphere where the energy of creativity and self-expression pulses through the air. By day, sunlight refracts through translucent art pieces, casting rainbows and radiant beams that transform the environment into a shifting chromatic wonderland.

At night, the carnival comes alive in a blaze of neon and LED displays, where lights flicker and glow in chaotic harmony, painting the sky with dynamic hues. Participants are encouraged to become part of the art, using movement, light, and sound to shape the visual experience in real time.

The Chromatic Carnival theme invites every participant to embrace the joy and freedom of self-expression through colour. Whether through glowing installations, interactive sculptures, or wearable art, this vibrant, ever-evolving environment will be a feast for the senses—where the spirit of community and creativity is reflected in a dazzling, ever-changing tapestry of light and colour.

Discover How SideBurn Brings Burning Man’s 10 Principles to Life

Anyone can be a part of SideBurn. We welcome and respect the stranger. Radical inclusion means accepting others’ forms of self expression and differences of opinion. We expect all participants to treat each other with respect – make sure you familiarize yourself with our Code of Conduct.

SideBurn is devoted to acts of gift-giving. The value of a gift is unconditional. Gifting does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value. A gift can be anything that you share with other participants. Gifts are what “make” the event since there is no centrally planned schedule. A gift can be big or small, silly or serious. It could be anything: a theme camp, performance, pop-up/roaming experience or food offering; handmade or practical items to give away; a kind word, spending time with someone, or making everyone feel included. What does gifting mean to you? What would you like to give to others?

In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create special environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.

Nothing is for sale at SideBurn! You may receive food or beverages as a gift, but these are not for sale. We do not allow promotion of commercial events, brands/products or money making activities at the event. In the spirit of decommodification we encourage you to make your own outfits/costumes, repurpose things, and use found or secondhand items in your costumes/art/gifts!

SideBurn encourages individuals to discover, exercise and rely on their inner resources. Show up with everything you need for the event – and extra to share/gift, if you can! Read our guides below to help you prepare, and the Survival Guide when it’s out.

Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other that the individual or collaborating group can determine its contents. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.

Radical self-expression often shows up in how we present ourselves to others – how we talk, act, and the choices we make about how we look. We want you to be YOU and be authentic to yourself, in whatever form that takes!

Our community values creative cooperation and collaboration. We strive to produce, promote, and protect social networks, public spaces, works of art, and methods of communication that support such interaction.

Communal effort means that everyone contributes to the event. This is YOUR event, so help make it the event you want to see! You can contribute by volunteering, participating in a theme camp, sharing your art in whatever form that takes, or simply being aware of yourself/others and how to make the event a better place for all.

We value a civil society. Community members who organize events should assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavour to communicate civic responsibilities to participants. They must also assume responsibility for conducting events in accordance to local, state, and federal laws.

Our community respects the environment. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and whenever possible leave such places in a better state than when we found them.

SideBurn strives to be an efficient LNT event. There is no trash pickup at SideBurn, so it’s up to all of us to eliminate Matter Out of Place (MOOP). Whatever you bring in, you bring out. This includes anything that might be trash: bottles, rope, debris, fruit peels, cigarette butts, glitter, and almost anything else. (Hot tip: To make this process easier on yourself and the collective community, you may want to consider leaving particularly “moopy” items – like that disheveled feather boa you love so much – at home.)

Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart.

Immediate experience is the most important touchstone of value in our culture. We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers. No idea can substitute for this experience.

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Image of a small vintage RV in a field of grass against a backdrop of trees.

Ticketing

Find all the essential details on ticket types, registration dates, equity ticketing, and how to secure your spot at the event.

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Key Dates

Stay up to date with important deadlines and event milestones to ensure you don’t miss out on any essential steps for SideBurn.

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Arriving at Sideburn

For information on event entry, alcohol regulations, prohibited items, and safety guidelines, make sure you’re prepared for a smooth arrival at SideBurn.

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Photo credit: Header image by Derek Samaha, used with permission.
Land Acknowledgement
We gather for SideBurn on the traditional territories of the Haudenosaunee, the Anishinaabe, the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte, the Huron-Wendat, the Mississaugas, and other Indigenous peoples from across Turtle Island. We are grateful to have the opportunity to work and build community on this land.