Wasteland Weekend is an annual four-day festival held on the edge of the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...

near

Edwards, California Edwards (formerly, Muroc and Wherry Housing) is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California. It is located east-southeast of Mojave, about northeast of Lancaster, east of Rosamond, and south of California City at an elevatio ...

. It is listed as a full immersion event, with all participants required to adhere to the set theme inspired by

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronom ...

media such as ''

Mad Max ''Mad Max'' is an Australian media franchise created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It centres on a series of post-apocalyptic and dystopian action films. The franchise began in 1979 with '' Mad Max'', and was followed by three sequels: ...

'', ''

Fallout Nuclear fallout is residual radioactive material that is created by the reactions producing a nuclear explosion. It is initially present in the radioactive cloud created by the explosion, and "falls out" of the cloud as it is moved by the ...

'' and ''Wasteland''. The festival includes themed costumes, campsites and vehicles, live bands and DJs, fire,

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

and other performers, and

Jugger Jugger is a sport inspired by the 1989 film '' The Salute of the Jugger'' (released as ''The Blood of Heroes'' in the United States), in which a game of the same name is played. The film version was invented by the film's stunt coordinator, Guy ...

matches. It has been held annually in September since 2010, except for 2020, when the event was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. It is currently owned and organized by Jared Butler and Adam Chilson under their company Wasteland World Inc. Gladiators_fighting

History

Wasteland Weekend has been held annually since 2010 after being founded by Karol Bartoszynski, Jared Butler and James Howard. The first Wasteland Weekend received media attention and a video greeting from George Miller, director of the ''Mad Max'' films. It has grown from approximately 350 attendees in 2010 to approximately 4,300 in 2019. In 2014, over 100 different themed cars and motorcycles were brought to the event. Drawing on ''

''-themed events in other countries, the first event was held in October in

California City, California California City is a city located in northern Antelope Valley in Kern County, California, United States. It is north of the city of Los Angeles, and the population was 14,973 at the 2020 census. Covering , California City has the third-larg ...

. It was organized by Karol Bartoszynski, Jared Butler, and club promoter Jim Howard. The event featured exhibitions of movie replica cars and bikes, a

gyrocopter An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), gyroscope, gyrocopter or gyroplane, is a class of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. A gyroplane "means a rotorcraft whose rotors are not engine-driven ...

flyover, vendors, fire dancers, and contests. Co-founders James Howard and Karol Bartoszynski left management in 2010 and 2014 respectively. In 2017, the event expanded from four to five days, beginning on the last Wednesday of September. By the tenth consecutive year in 2019, the sold-out event had over 4,300 participants. With 2020 being cancelled, year 11 was deferred to 22nd – 26th, 2021.

Theme

The theme of Wasteland Weekend draws heavily from

apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronom ...

, especially the ''Mad Max'' franchise, and requires all attendees to wear appropriately themed clothing. In its early years, Wasteland Weekend was billed as "''Mad Max'' fun in the California sun". Other influences include ''Wasteland'' and the ''Fallout'' series of video games.

In media

Wasteland Weekend 2017 was featured in ''The Boulet Brothers' Dragula'' season 2, in which the four remaining competitors had to take part in a photoshoot in a nearby desert and perform as a group at Wasteland Weekend.

Adam Savage Adam Whitney Savage (born July 15, 1967) is an American special effects designer and manufacturer, fabricator, actor, educator, television personality, and producer, best known as the former co-host, with Jamie Hyneman, of the Discovery Channe ...

's Discovery, Science Channel show "''

Savage Builds Adam Whitney Savage (born July 15, 1967) is an American special effects designer and fabricator, actor, educator, television personality, and producer, best known as the former co-host, with Jamie Hyneman, of the Discovery Channel television ...

''" season 1 episode 3 "Mad Max Melee" featured Butler, several vehicles from Wasteland Weekend, and the festival's property.

Additional events

There have been several official spin-off events from Wasteland Weekend and its organizers, including The Wasteland Film Festival (started 2013), The Wasteland World Car Show (started 2016), and The Wastelanders Ball (started 2017). The same team also launched an annual

sci-fi Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

and

cyberpunk Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting said to focus on a combination of "low-life and high tech". It features futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyberwa ...

-themed festival, Neotropolis, in 2022.

References

External links

Official website

"Welcome to the Wasteland"
comic on

The Nib ''The Nib'' was an American online daily comics publication focused on political cartoons, Comics journalism, graphic journalism, essays and memoir about current affairs. Founded by cartoonist Matt Bors in September 2013, ''The Nib'' was an ind ...

GeekXGirls article on event history
{{Mad Max Mad Max Counterculture festivals Festivals in California Recurring events established in 2010 2010 establishments in California Tourist attractions in Kern County, California California City, California