The Oldest Man at Burning Man

Irving Kofsky is 84, an ex-nuclear physicist and current retiree. So what does a Depression-era guy make of the desert festival famed for sex, drugs and self-indulgence?

Brad Horn / AP

Revelers flock to Nevada to act out—and set a massive sculpture ablaze.

I bet my cousin, Irving Kofsky, was the oldest man at Burning Man this year. But Andie Grace, a spokesperson for the festival who keeps track of such things at the annual, week-long circus in the Nevada desert, said there's no way to know. "Among the oldest participants I've ever had the pleasure to hang out with, one was actor Larry Hagman , who was born in September of '31," she said. "So your cousin has him beat." Easily. Irving was seven when J.R. Ewing was born.

"Do you think you're the oldest guy at...

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