BY KRISTIN S. LARSEN • KLARSEN@RGJ.COM • SEPTEMBER 3, 2008

In keeping with the American Dream theme, this year's Burning Man festival featured bigger, badder toys.

The "Hand of Man," designed by Christian Ristow, allowed Black Rock Desert visitors to clamp the red nails of a metal hand around a crushed Volkswagen, lift it 20 feet into the air and drop it to the ground with a loud crunch (see video).

Ristow said adults and children wreaked destruction on the car with gusto.

By the third day of the weeklong celebration, the car almost was unrecognizable, and plans were under way to find more things to smash, such as 40-gallon drums to be painted like beer cans.

Also, a two-story wagon complete with a canvas roof and chandelier rolled across the desert humorously led by a single wooden carousel horse, while about 20 revelers cheered and drank from their lofty perch.

"We're going to party like it's 1885," a rider said.

The Burning Man organization provides street markers, portable restrooms, campsites and a 40-foot-tall structure to burn, yet 49,599 people were lured to the harsh environment of the playa. It's the ticket-buying participants who bring the attractions.

"I can't name any other city where so much of the city is involved in the creation of it," Burning Man spokeswoman Andy Grace said.

Grace said about 3,000 volunteers construct the temporary city and remove all traces of it at the end of the counter-culture art festival.

Laura Kimpton, co-creator of Celtic Forest, said she and several other private art enthusiasts spent roughly the cost of purchasing a Sparks home to construct a massive exhibit for Burning Man. She declined to cite the specific amount, but said she spent $50,000 of her own money to bring her vision to the viewers of Black Rock City (see Celtic Forest video). She was among more than 200 exhibits positioned on the open playa.

"This is where the artists respect the artists," Kimpton said. "It's a place where you can really express yourself."