Burning Man Festival: Through the Years Burning Man participants greet the dawn near the 120-foot tall Temple of Transition, by Chris Hankins, Diarmaid Horkan and the International Art Megacrew. The week-long Burning Man Festival took place in the Nevada desert from Aug. 29 through Sept. The Burning Man phenomenon started 25 years ago with an eight-foot structure burning on a beach in California around the summer solstice. Patrick Roddie/webbery.com