Update on the 6th annual Burning Life festival of fire, art and community

As we roam the grid enjoying Winterfaire in Second Life, we wanted to take a moment to update you on some of what we did and learned at a different Resident-created event this year, Burning Life. The 6th annual Burning Life festival of fire, art and community took place from Sept 27 through Oct 5, 2008.

First, we would like to extend our appreciation to all the Residents who did such amazing work creating an environment that felt unique, held true to it’s real-life inspiration, and still used Second Life’s wonderful properties to full advantage.

Burning Life 2008

Much of what we report here builds on the Resident, Builder, Volunteer and Ranger surveys, conducted in part so we would be able to learn how we might improve Burning Life next year. We’ve learned a lot this year as the event grew in scale and ambition, and so we share those revelations to continue to build upon the legacy of Resident Burners before us.

Let’s start with some new things we tried this year:

Co-Community hosting with the Burning Man organization, which enabled the following:

• A Founder’s Interview in center camp with Philip Linden, Larry Harvey (Founder of Burning Man), Danger Ranger (Founder of the BM Ranger program) and Dusty Linden (a Burning Life organizer and Old-Time Burner)

Enjoy the Winterfaire Second Life Grand Tour

Welcome to Winterfaire. At this time of year, when many North American Residents are experiencing chilly weather in real life, we like to turn on the Second Life snow machines, set up pointy trees and blinky lights, and settle down for the hush of long winter nights.

Many Residents have transformed their homes and land into beautiful winter snowscapes, and they invite you to come by for a walk in the woods, a warm drink by a fire, or some neighborly conversation.

This year, the Winterfaire Grand Tour can be accessed inworld, through the Search >> Showcase feature in the viewer, and also on the Showcase section of the Second Life website.  Specifically, the “Hotspots” tab in the Showcase has been given over to Winterfaire’s “cool” places of interest (and scroll down the page for more.) Some of the locations on the tour are on private islands not normally open to the public, so be sure you don’t miss them!

Watch for New Winterfaire Grand Tour Locations in the Showcase

We will be rotating new tour locations into the Showcase throughout the event, which runs until January 5th, so visit the Showcase more than once to see all the wonderful offerings.

Snowman Building Contest

Mark your calendars for December 22nd when Sejong Linden and friends will host this year’s Snowman Building Contest. Two hours only, on the following Main Grid regions:  I-World Festival, I-World Festival 2 and I-World Festival 3, between 11:00 AM and 01:00 PM  PST.

Teen Grid Snowman Building Contest

The Teen Grid Snowman Building Contest will be on December 23rd, at the Rainier region, from 11:00 AM to 01:00 PM PST ( 2 hours).

And now, the Event We’ve All been Waiting For:  Residents vs Lindens Snowball Fight

Don’t miss it. On December 23rd and 24th, you will have a chance to pelt your favorite Lindens with snowballs in the great Residents vs Linden Snowball Fight.

Wintery Fort for a Snowball Fight...

Look for your favorite Linden targets at the annual Winterfest Snowball Fight in the following regions: Egan, Hatton, Moritz, and Prancer. December 23rd Noon til 10pm and December 24th, Noon til 7pm.

We hope to see you there throwing things at us. We can beat you with one hand tied behind our backs.

Put on your earmuffs and come on out!

Post your images from Winterfaire on Snapzilla or in our Winterfaire Flickr Group. Tags: Winterfaire Second Life.