Behind Burning Man's Mysterious Milwaukee Ave CTA Bus Stop

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 9, 2016 7:13PM

Photo courtesy Marilyn Besasie

We've learned more about the mysterious #56 bus stop in the middle of the desert at this year's Burning Man. Attendee Marilyn Besasie sent us the above photo and let us know that the intrepid crew who erected the sign were a crew of Burners based out of Wisconsin. They call themselves the Wisconsin Burners and have been active in the yearly pilgrimage to the middle of nowhere since 1999.

In a statement the group explained the motivation behind their actions (we have condensed and edited the statement for clarity):

We are Snowflake Village at Burning Man. In past years we have had camps from Chicago camping with us. The CTA sign was gifted to us by some Chicago Burners. Snowflake Village [was] directly across the street from the bus stop sign. One of our villagers created the special Butt Stop bench for us this year. We are a village of midwesterners and welcome people from the snowy section of the United States to camp with us.

Looks like we have a lively crew to hook up with should we ever decide to attend Burning Man. Maybe by then they will have commandeered an actual bus and turned it into a hovercraft that can skate over the sandy expanse.