With windows rolled down, a legion of fur-trimmed, neon light-holding burners will make their way up the Pyramid Highway this weekend.

Burning Man 2009 will draw more than 50,000 playa-going partiers to the dusty Black Rock Desert for a week of revelry in a created community all their own.

The event starts Monday and ends Sept. 7. The 100-mile stretch of land is owned by the Bureau of Land Management and sits about 120 miles north of Sparks. The closest towns are Gerlach and Empire, Nev.

Just before heading up to the Playa themselves, Lauren and Steve Gifford were helping an onslaught of burners at their store, Prism Magic Clothing and Imports on Pyramid Way.

“That’s the fun part of having the store here, seeing everyone go up,” Lauren said.

The owners of the vintage and tie dye clothing shop said this time of year is their “retail Christmas,” with hundreds coming through to pick up a costume or a light-up accessory on their way to Burning Man.

Some of Lauren’s advice for Burning Man-goers is to keep a light around at night, mark your burner bike with identification and make sure that the costume, no matter how flamboyant, is port-a-potty friendly. There is no indoor plumbing on the playa.

The week is known for its drug-fueled, colorful atmosphere, culminating in “burning down the man” on the night of Sept. 5. The almost 40-foot-tall wooden man has been going up in flames for 23 years.

Justin Swallow, of Calgary, Alberta Canada, stopped by Prism on Friday looking for some last-minute supplies. This is the first year that Swallow will attend the event along with 20 friends from Canada.

“I don’t know what to expect,” Swallow said as he perused the store. “Probably the thing I am most worried about is just how much water to bring.”

Any water for the week must be packed in, as there is none available on the playa.

Event officials suggest 1.5 gallons of water per day, but Gifford suggests adding electrolytes.

“Have some Emergen-C, or something like it,” Gifford said.

Steven Gifford told potential burners to remember what everything looks like before they go, because it will not be the same when they get back.

“Anything that goes out to the playa will be changed: clothes, bikes, people, everything,” he said.