Illustration of me

Balsa Man is ashes! Next year he’ll burn again!

Dec 19 2022

Balsa Man Burn 2008 Balsa Man 2008 was a roaring success thanks to all the fabulous people who came and participated!

Big tiny thanks to:

  • The main Balsa Man KCrew team, namely Nifer who helped me tremendously in the build process and MotoMike who helped prepare The Balsa Man for his firey doom!
  • Criollo for transporting the Balsa Man to the location, setting up signs, and doing anything that needed doing!
  • Jordan, for his great little Balsa Phoenix, which seemed to have a problem rising from the ashes. Also he gets our thanks for digging the post hole for Balsa Man with a little u-dig-it shovel!
  • J-Rad for the beautiful Temple of Reduced Expectations, which gets the award for the longest burning art project at Balsa Man — paper or not, it burned slow and long, turning into wonderful plant-like tendrils of crumbing ash.
  • MissySB for making the awesome Balsa Shave signs! And for making the first Balsa Man fire effects artwork — powered off of a DeWalt battery no less!
  • ApeGirl & Dusty, for setting up the deliciously mini-orange trash fence!
  • Anthony Ricci‘s adorable bubblegum pink buddhas that appeared to be bobbing up for air from under the beach!
  • EdRabbit for hauling out DDI to the Balsa Man burn — really that has to be the fastest DDI setup I ever saw! Pity about the software glitch that burned down the entire thing contestants and all!
  • And a thanks to everyone else who showed and made it a great burn!

Balsa Man will be back next year! And better than ever — though knowing him, he probably won’t be bigger than ever. So start fiddling away now with your balsa wood, as I hope to see your mini masterpiece at next year’s burn! Next year’s Balsa Man will have more time set aside for art as already there was so much art this year that you couldn’t see it all.

Balsa Man 2009 — “Big Dreams Writ Small”

If you had limitless time, resources, volunteers, and most importantly motivation, what would you create? A hundred foot tower of steel? A giant rocking horse?

For Balsa Man 2009, create a small maquette of your biggest dreams!

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