The Recipe for the Perfect Burn
Written By: Peter Simpson-Young
September 18, 2025
(Reproduced with permission from Peter Simpson-Young. First published on https://thirddeg-ch66tb.manus.space/)
Reflections and Appreciation from Third Degree 2025
When Magic Happens on a Sunday Night
It was Sunday night at Third Degree, deep in the Australian bushland. The Scout hall has transformed into something I'd never witnessed before; not just a party, but a playground of human connection. Expressive dancing and playful exchanges filled the dancefloor whilst the Newcastle-based DJs (who I must admit are categorically cooler than us Sydney folks) danced with the same level of energy. Strangers become friends. Self-consciousness dissolves into joy.
The following day, my partner Emily, turns to me with tears in her eyes. "I get why this is important now," she says. "Everyone needs to experience this."
She's right. The question becomes urgent: How do we create more of these transformative experiences? How do we build the perfect Burn?
A Fresh Perspective on Familiar Magic
I came to Third Degree (NSW only official regional Burn) as both an outsider and insider. It was my first time at this particular 350-person gathering (plus 60 children) in Kariong Scout Camp, but I arrived armed with insights from conducting the NSW Burns Community Survey and a mission to create art that celebrated this community.
My contribution was a badge project that bordered on obsession: 60 unique designs, with hundreds of physical badges produced, honouring everything from volunteer teams to local wildlife, from memorable moments to theme camps. These badges became a "meta-gifting" initiative; I could gift others the ability to gift, letting team leads and camps share badges with their crews. With many badges distributed via Rolly Warner's Burner Mail (the event's internal postal system) on Saturday, they gave me a passport to conversations across the entire event.
The complete badge collection: 60 unique designs celebrating every aspect of the Third Degree community
From my campsite just off the paddock (a 30-second walk to both dancefloor and HQ) I was on a mission to observe, participate, and learn. What I discovered was a recipe, five essential ingredients that transform a gathering into magic.
The Five Ingredients for a Perfect Burn
1. A Diverse Intergenerational Community
The perfect Burn isn't just a party (like I originally believed) - it's a temporary village, and villages need everyone.
For example, Pebble is an (almost) 18-year-old ranger lead who's been to more Burns than I have, as the daughter of the prolific Burner, Shiny. Having grown up volunteering at Burns, Pebble navigates the unique challenge of being younger than other volunteers but more experienced - a position I remember growing up at folk festivals. Then there are the "youngest Burners," babies and children who'll become the volunteers, camp leads, and artists of future Burns, like the kids of rangers Kelsie and Benjamin Navin.
But a village needs its elders too - the community leaders who've been stewarding this culture for a decade or more. Not just the visible theme camp leads, but the behind-the-scenes volunteer coordinators who've run teams for years, growing impatient with lack of support or recognition. Like the "international ranger" who travels the world learning and sharing best practices and John 'Flipper' Dalton - a legend within the National Folk Festival volunteering scene.
Each group fills essential niches: event organisers are custodians of Burner culture; volunteers everyone safe so organisers can actually switch off and play, theme camps bring the spaces to connect and play; and artists bring the magic.
Remove any element, and the village crumbles.
2. Intentional Cultural Development
Culture is obviously important at Burns; it's the foundation of community. But Third Degree showed me culture is far more complex than just the 10+1 Principles. Our culture encompasses all the shared behaviours, beliefs, traditions, and knowledge that make this temporary utopia possible.
The need for cultural development became crystal clear during Erstwhile Manor's "Ask a Drunk Scientist" event - a beautifully chaotic panel where scientists fielded questions from an eager audience. So many people wanted to discuss so many topics that conversations exploded in all directions. When AI came up and debate got heated, the facilitator quickly banned the topic. A community leader pointed out this decision was made undemocratically, highlighting questions we haven't answered around collective decision making and public discourse. The brief one-hour panel highlighted there is deep wisdom that's currently underutilised and topics requiring further exploration.
Following the short event, the energy was electric, and Teresa Trevoire remarked that we need a dedicated weekend-long event for structured knowledge sharing. The idea spread rapidly, and by the end of the festival several people were all pitching the idea of a Burn focused on knowledge sharing.
The perfect Burn doesn't just foster culture - it actively cultivates it.
3. Art That Inspires Play
Art transforms sites into playgrounds where magic happens.
Though I barely left my triangle of campsite-dancefloor-HQ (a badge-maker's curse), the art that I saw was extraordinary. Large interactive installations beckoned exploration. DJs became walking art pieces - Teresa Trevoire and Neil Dawson were essentially mobile installations that happened to play music. The Fun Police and Dream Rider blurred every line between performance, participation, and play.
Mindsub and Electric Tipi's dancefloors were epic art installations, and Miss Peach's shows and activities would put a small folk festival to shame. Even our humble crochet hand-held doof stick became part of the artistic ecosystem.
When everything is art and everyone is an artist, the entire Burn becomes a canvas for collective creativity.
4. Operational Excellence Through Passionate Volunteers
Building a temporary town where everyone belongs takes incredible work. Third Degree's tactical efficiency offered a glimpse into what's possible - volunteer teams operating from HQ (which felt more like a small military base than a scout hall dining room), team leads managing complex rosters despite last-minute technical challenges, and somehow, it all worked.
But having seen events like the National Folk Festival (NFF) operate, I know we can streamline further. NFF centralises rostering and communications, freeing the team leads to focus on supporting their volunteers during shift transitions. Imagine combining Third Degree's passion with that level of process refinement.
The perfect Burn empowers everyone to build our temporary utopia through smart systems and collective effort embodied in the Third Degree volunteering workforce and its coordinators.
5. Radical Accessibility
You can't build a village where everyone belongs if everyone can't actually participate.
This means the obvious things (accessible toilets, ramps, and facilities), but it also means the less obvious: real beds for young families who can't manage tent camping with toddlers. Water stations for newcomers who forgot bottles (I found myself playing "water waiter" to dehydrated dancers more than once, including one whose legs were cramping from dancing whilst dehydrated). Plus accessible showers for those who can't simply swim in the river.
Accessibility extends beyond the physical. Events need to be reachable from Newcastle, Wollongong, and Canberra - not just Sydney. Off-paddock gatherings need hybrid or virtual options. We must design with inclusion as the foundation, not an afterthought.
The Magic of Third Degree
So we know the recipe. Third Degree Burn demonstrated it beautifully.
What made Third Degree special wasn't just one element—it was how all five ingredients came together in perfect harmony. The diverse community from babies to elders, all contributing their unique gifts. The intentional culture fostered through events like "Ask a Drunk Scientist" that sparked deeper conversations. The extraordinary art that transformed every space into a playground of creativity.
The operational excellence was evident everywhere—from the military-precision HQ operations to the seamless volunteer coordination that made everything possible. And the commitment to accessibility ensured that families with young children, people with different physical needs, and participants from across NSW could all be part of the magic.
Third Degree proved that when you combine passionate people with smart systems, when you balance structure with spontaneity, when you design for inclusion from the ground up—magic happens. The temporary village becomes more than the sum of its parts.
The badge project became my lens into this community, but what I discovered was so much more than I expected. I found a recipe for transformation, a blueprint for building temporary utopias where everyone belongs and magic is not just possible—it's inevitable.
Thank You, Third Degree
To conclude, I return to Emily's words on that Monday morning: "Everyone should have the opportunity to experience this."
She's right. And Third Degree Burn showed us exactly what that experience looks like when done right. You created something extraordinary—a temporary village where strangers became friends, where art came alive, where every person had a role to play, and where magic wasn't just possible, it was inevitable.
To the organizers, volunteers, artists, and community members who made Third Degree possible: thank you. You've created a blueprint for transformation, a recipe for building the kind of world we all want to live in, even if it's just for a weekend in the Australian bushland.
The badges were my contribution, but the real gift was being part of your community, witnessing your dedication, and experiencing firsthand the magic that happens when all five ingredients come together in perfect harmony.
With gratitude and appreciation for the Third Degree Burn community and organizers - Peter Simpson-Young
