unSCruz presents technicolor caravan of joy at Bolado Park

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It’s hard to describe the 14th annual Absurdia unSCruz event at Bolado Park in terms that aren’t grandiose. Think of it as every carnival sideshow, every three-ring circus, every concert, every art show, every feast, and every birthday party you’ve ever been to in your life compressed into a single event you share with a little more than 3,200 participants. 

Running from April 30 to May 2, the Burning Man Festival-affiliated celebration shares a similar concept to the famous Black Rock Desert, Nevada, event: welcoming all comers, encouraging self-expression and participation, valuing gifting over commercialism, and respecting the environment.

“It is all a huge collaboration,” said artist Bailey Queue, who has been with unScruz (pronounced “unscrews”)  since 2015. “The idea is that everybody is an observer and everybody’s a participant.” 

According to Joe Rigney, unScruz grew out of an event in 2010, when he and group of Burning Man participants planned to get together in the afterglow to do “a lot of very intense unpacking and washing of clothes and vehicles and everything.”  

A flier announcing the gathering, billed as the “unScruz Santa Cruz Burning Man Decompression Party,” quickly drew the ire of the original Burning Man organizers, resulting in a cease and desist letter. 

“We all thought it was really hilarious,” he said, because this was just a little house party with maybe 40, 50 people. But out of it, a group of about 10 people got together and posed the question, ‘What would it take to put on an officially sanctioned event?’”

Two years later, the first (and now sanctioned) unScruz festival was held as a one-day event in downtown Santa Cruz. In 2023, the event moved to Bolado Park, where it attracted 3,252 participants.

One of the core principles of Burning Man, adopted by unScruz, is “decommodification,” driven by gifting rather than through commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. Tickets to the event range in price from $150-$400, but on the grounds everything at the UnScruz festival is offered at no cost, from the food and drink to freely given artwork and entertainment. 

Feeling hungry?  There is everything from grilled burgers to pizza to an endless charcuterie board that feeds 50 at a time. Thirsty? Water and juice are easily available, and you can get more adult beverages from a mock saloon with swinging doors, a bar shaped like a BART train, or themed tents, served by a pirate or a clown.

At Wok This Way, Elle the Wok Queen held a potato-peeling party one morning, then served up French fries all afternoon and evening. The following day, the offering was “A1 Crappy Fried Crap,” an eclectic mix of tortilla chips, corn dogs, pork belly confit and Korean fried chicken wings. 

The food costs are covered by a sponsorship from the unSCruz organization, which provides nearly $100,000 annually to various event participants as part of what Elle describes as “the whole community thing.”

“You know,” Elle said, “Food is one of the only types of art that truly becomes a part of its audience. Everybody brings something to share, and what I have to share is my cooking.”

The sharing and gifting are infectious and ever-present.

Forgot something at home that you desperately need?  With a quick visit to the Corn-R Store, you can restock on Band-Aids, vitamins, and more. Need a little tender care? A visit to the Sky Pigs Pirates grotto can score you a free massage. Tired of what you brought to wear? Help yourself to some new threads at Sparkle Sexual.

Art supplies were also funded, and many artists, such as Ruth Strickland of Dot-a-Rock, held workshops to share and teach their crafts. Visitors to her tent were allowed to choose a small palm-sized rock, then instructed on how to decorate it with a mandala-like pattern. The finished rocks were sprayed with varnish, then attached to chains as jewelry.

For Wander Woman, an eight-time unSCruz veteran, Dot-a-Rock was the highlight of the event. Strickland’s mentoring, she said, makes her finished work look “amazing” even though she’s not an artist.

“I sit here,” she said, “and I feel very creative. I let the juices flow, and I do whatever I want, and it looks great. For me, this is the highlight of unSCruz, and when I see my rocks at home, they just bring me back to a wonderful moment of being here.”

There are also opportunities for uninstructed freestyle artistry, like Queue’s “Museum of No Spectators,” with huge sheets of white paper pinned to supports, available to anyone who feels like drawing or painting.

“I supply all the art supplies,” Queue said, “and the space to create things. People come in, and they create whatever they want, and then, on the last night, we have an art closing instead of an art opening.” 

There is a strong emphasis on recycling and reusing materials to create art, in keeping with the broader theme of environmental soundness and “leaving no trace.”  

This extends to artwork, such as Sahrye Cohen’s light-up sculpture, an arch made from upcycled plastic food containers. Or James’ Mutant Vehicle, an old chassis, transformed into Moby the Rainbow Fish with the addition of fins, scales and 33,000 LED lights. Or the bedazzling Dollar Store hat worn by Michael Wertz, personalized with large fake gems, sliced bits of pool noodle and other “cheap crap.”

Of course, being affiliated with Burning Man requires a good measure of pyrotechnics, with a number of terrifyingly beautiful creations that were confined to the rodeo area. 

One, the impossible-to-miss El Pulpo Magnífico, a 28-foot-tall giant octopus created by artist Duane Flatmo. It has been a fixture at festivals throughout the country and has even been featured in a Simpsons episode.  

Described as a “demented windup toy,” it sits atop a Mad-Max-like vehicle shaped like a lobster. The whole creation is covered in an assortment of shiny, re-purposed baking and cookie pans, and it spews fire from each of its eight legs as it trundles along.  

One of Queue’s favorite pieces was an immersive fire sculpture entitled “Haven” by the Flaming Lotus Girls, a giant nest that serves as a home to an assortment of huge metal birds and a clutch of silver eggs.

“Each one of those birds shoots fire out of its eyeballs,” she said. “And the eggs shoot off huge plumes of fire. It is just absolutely amazing. It has buttons you can push that cause more flares, so it’s a really interactive, fun piece.”

Substituting for the iconic Burning Man, the climax of the festival was the immolation of a plywood cat sculpture. Hand-sized plywood pieces shaped like cats, dogs and fish were available for people to write tributes to departed loved ones, thoughts about the event, their philosophy of life, or, in one case, just “Love.”

On May 2, the final evening of the Absurdia, the cat and the growing pile of cutouts were set on fire as participants danced in the glow of the flames, celebrated the spirit of the community and the boundless creativity of the event and bid their farewells to one another as the astonishing event came to a close.

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