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Burning Dude: New fest will either fizzle or sizzle
BY HANNAH MARIA HAYES
Press & Sun-Bulletin
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If fire attracts people like moths around a light bulb, then a blazing 20-foot-tall likeness of a man is sure to draw an instant crowd.








Chuck Turecek with the 20-foot-tall dude, which was to be used for a test burn. The Burning Dude festival will be held Saturday at Fire Fox Resorts in the Town of Nanticoke.

PHOTO PROVIDED



CHUCK TURECEK, left, and GREG BOHNER




Burning Dude 2005 Details
WHAT: An arts festival featuring live music from rock band Distant Thunder and drummer Rob Wandell, and the burning of a 20-foot-tall "dude."
WHEN: The party starts at noon Saturday; the dude burns at 9 p.m.

WHERE: Fire Fox Resorts Golf Course & RV Park, Rabbit Path Road, Town of Nanticoke. (Off Route 26 midway between Whitney Point and Glen Aubrey.)

COST: $6 -- half-price admission if you come dressed as a pirate, a caveman or a Viking. Other costumes are encouraged, but they won't get you an admission discount. Admission includes free overnight camping Saturday night (space only, electric and water extra) and free vending space for anyone who wants to sell jewelry, clothes, etc.

AGE: 18 to party, 21 to drink

RAIN DATE: If there is a light rain on Saturday, the event will go as planned. If there is a downpour, the event will be held Oct. 8.

INFORMATION: Call 785-4186 or write chuck turecek@hotmail.com.

Other 'Man' events

To learn more about Burning Man, visit www.burningman.com

To learn more about The Wickerman Festival, visit www.thewickermanfestival.co.uk



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That's exactly what Chuck Turecek hopes will happen during Burning Dude 2005, a festival of fire, costumes, music and vendors. The event will take place Saturday afternoon at Fire Fox Resorts Golf Course & RV Park in the Town of Nanticoke.

"I've passed over a lot of wild things in my life, and I decided that this wouldn't be one of them," said Bob Hodges, owner of Fire Fox. "I'm still not too sure how this is going to work out, but he's sincere in what he's doing. This is so wild, I've got to see the end of it."

Turecek, a Union-Endicott High School English teacher and Hodges' tenant, offered to be the events coordinator for Fire Fox.

"I thought I would build up a little excitement about the place," he said.

For Turecek, burning a monstrous wooden structure seemed a lot more exciting than offering free rounds of golf and discounted RV camping.

The Burning Dude concept stems from Turecek's desire to attend the Burning Man festival, a countercultural, alternative arts festival held in the Nevada desert. More than 25,000 people from all over the world attend this event every year.

"I've wanted to go to Burning Man for years now, but I never could get it together to fly to Nevada and find my way to Black Rock to see what has been described as the freakiest arts festival on Earth," Turecek said.

Burning Man turns Black Rock City, Nev. - which is 100 miles from the next nearest town - into a place dedicated to self-reliance, self-expression, communal sharing and art. Artists, intellectuals, nonconformists and the curious spend Labor Day week each year in the desert, where everyone can express themselves freely and where everyone can be an artist.

The idea is that instead of going to consume entertainment from hired professionals, those in attendance do their best to entertain one another. And that means just about anything goes. The Burning Man festival always ends with the dramatic torching of a 40-foot-tall effigy.

But when you add up the cost of airfare, car rental and the $250 admission, attending Burning Man has a hefty price tag. So that's why Turecek, with the help of four friends, decided to hold a loosely based Southern Tier version of the event - Burning Dude. The $6 admission is cut in half if you come dressed as a pirate, caveman or Viking.

However, Turecek and the other organizers are quick to point out that Burning Dude isn't exactly like Burning Man.

"It's an East Coast thing. It's more primitive," said art teacher Greg Bohner, who is Burning Dude's art director.

There is also a Scottish event called The Wickerman Festival, which is based on the 1972 cult movie The Wicker Man, which is based on a Gaelic tradition dating back thousands of years involving the burning of a human effigy. Fire rituals in most cultures are associated with purification, and the burning of a human effigy is typically intended to create a messenger to carry a community's prayers to its favored deity, according to www.wikipedia.org/, an online encyclopedia.

Burning Dude, though, has no religious affiliation, and the Dude doesn't represent anyone in particular.

"There are plenty of people we wished it represented," Bohner said with a laugh. Instead, the Dude is basically an excuse to light something of enormous proportions on fire.

The Dude will be built on the shoreline of Fire Fox's 12-acre lake, opposite from where spectators will watch. Only Turecek, Bohner and two other friends will be with the Dude when it is lit. (The other organizers are Jeremy Dunn, a technology teacher who is the technical consultant, and Dave "Torch" Tarcha, a car detailer who is the production coordinator and torcher of the Dude.)

"It will be quite a spectacle," Turecek said. "It's close to 20 feet tall, which is like a two-story building."

Dude's head alone will be about 4 feet in diameter and made from tissue paper and wicker. His body will be constructed with wooden poles fastened with wire, which will then be wrapped with straw and burlap and fastened with twine. The Dude will then be soaked in torch fuel.

Last week, the four men built and lit a smaller "Protodude," just to see how things would work. Everything went as planned: the fire was amazing and the buckets of water they had on hand weren't needed.

"If there is any other dude who will get burnt, it will be one of the four of us," Bohner said.

The Burning Dude festival has its basic framework set, but the organizers aren't positive on all the particulars. They do know that rock band Distant Thunder will play sometime in the afternoon, drummer Rob Wandell will perform at some point and there will probably be vendors. (The $6 entrance allows anyone to set up shop if they so choose.)

There's also no telling how many people might show up.

"It could be anything from 60 to 600," Hodges said. "I would be surprised if we had 200. I'd be overwhelmed if we had 600. And I'd be fine if it was just 60."

The only particulars with an exact time - at least right now - is when the gates open (noon) and when the Dude catches fire (9 p.m.). Other than that, there aren't any specific plans, other than to have fun. Dancing is strongly encouraged, and food and alcohol is available at Fire Fox's clubhouse.

"People like strange things, and this is one of them," Hodges said. "It could be the biggest flop, but who cares?"

Turecek said he hopes Burning Dude 2005 will be the first of many such events. He's already got some names picked out for potential reprises: "Frankendude" for Halloween; "Dudezilla" for a tribute to Japanese horror films; and "Dude on Ice" for a winter carnival.

"The creative possibilities are endless," Turecek said. "We're hoping it will be an annual or biannual thing, but if it only happens once, so be it."


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