Registration begins Wednesday for those seeking Burning Man tickets

Burning Man, the popular annual festival of self-expression in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, takes place over Labor Day weekend, August 27 – September 4, 2017. This "temporary metropolis" dedicated to art and community has become so poplar that buying the high-demand tickets is not only costly, but buying tickets is now a two-day event.

The theme this year is "Radical Ritual."

The first step in the process: Potential attendees must register to buy one of the 30,000 tickets and 10,000 vehicle passes starting on March 22, 2017 at 12:00 p.m. PST until noon on Friday, March 24. Successful registrants then return to the website on March 29 to purchase tickets. Last year, about 70,000 people registered during the first step.

Organizers are bringing back their virtual "waiting room" to ease demands on the ticketing system. Registered users can start their "wait" at 11:30 a.m. on March 29.

Those in the waiting room may then be selected randomly starting at noon to purchase tickets. Not all in the waiting room will get tickets if expected demand remains the same as 2016.

Tickets went up this year by $35 to $425 each, with a maximum of two tickets and one $80 vehicle pass per person.

For more information on the event, visit burningman.org.