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Pyro-tourism. The idea of turning dangerous work into a tourist attraction came to Jan Jantzen while conducting horseback rides near his 135- acre ranch in Kansas, as reported by Jim Carlton in The Wall Street Journal. As he relays: "I'd tell them, 'Everywhere we are riding, this will be on fire,' ... They'd go, 'Wow, I'd like to see that." Jan was referring to the springtime rancher ritual of torching "their prairies to revitalize the grass for livestock and kill off invasive plants." Normally it's "done by a rancher and one or two hired laborers." Jan Jantzen, a former college administrator, has now branded the experience -- calling it "Flames in the Flint Hills" -- turning what he otherwise terms "a chore" into an "all-day party" including "snacks, a cash bar and dinner with a live bluegrass band."
Jan promotes the experience via fliers that read: "Feel the heat, hear the crackle, smell the smoke, and witness the leaping flames, all as close as you want to be." This year -- his third -- Jan attracted a total 42 guests, each of whom pays $100 to light his fire. "It's worth every penny," says Eunice Pennington, a 72-year-old nurse. "I wish we could do this back home," says Raimo Myllyniemi, "a 40-year old dairy farmer" from Finland. "Good old family fun," says Richard Miller III of Emporia, Kansas, "whose parents brought him up as a 19th-birthday present." However, Virginia Parker, "a retired postal worker from Leawood, Kan.," decided maybe it was just a little too much excitement for her: "Fire scares me," she said, having decided to leave the party.
Was it something Jan Jantzen said? "I don't want to scare you," he tells his guests, "but you are assuming complete risk ... We will literally be playing with fire," he says, noting that a prairie fire "can outrun a person." To nervous laughter he advises his pyro-tourists to remember "black or blue: Go for burned, black ground, or jump in the blue water ... If you can't swim, you have to decide if you want to burn or drown." Yes, indeed: "After the grasses were lit, the pasture erupted in a fireball so hot that most firelighters had to step back several paces, blinking in amazement. The fire consumed the pasture in three minutes, 29 seconds ... " Less impressed is Kathy Mildward, a neighbor: "It's irritating," she says. "I like Jan. But he's making money on something that people can see for free just by driving around." Another neighbor, Leigh Ann Swigert, says "paid burns" are "silly," but then adds: "If people are willing to do it, maybe I'll start charging $50 instead of $100."
Tim Manners, editor
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©2005 reveries.com |
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