They were sprinkled in the traffic coming down Pyramid Way on Monday – dust-covered cars straight from the Black Rock playa.

More than 48,000 people attended the event, decking themselves in out-of-the-ordinary attire and dressing their cars in a coat of desert dust.

Monday afternoon, Osvaldo Garcia stood outside the $3.99 Car Wash, waiting for a dust storm of business to pour in.

“It hasn’t increased yet, but I am hoping it picks up,” said Garcia, the manager of the car wash.

While the annual festival of desert dances and rowdy revelry didn’t attract as many participants as it did last year, area amenities still felt the pinch of the onslaught.

Monday morning flights at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport were booked solid, mostly by returning burners, according to airport spokesman Brian Kulpin.

More than 8,000 seats were occupied by Labor Day visitors and people fresh off the playa.

According to Steve Gifford, owner of Burning Man stopover Prism Magic Clothing and Imports on Pyramid Way, nothing comes back from the burning man event the same.

“Anything that goes out to the playa will be changed – clothes, cars, bikes, people,” Gifford said.

The telltale signature of a “burner” is the coat of dust that covers everything brought back, including cars.

However, some Sparks car washes said that the Labor Day holiday and the closing day of the Burning Man event was business as usual.

“A good average day is about 250 cars,” Garcia said, adding that he hoped to reach that total on Monday.

Across town, on Pyramid Way, the Marina Hand Car Wash and Detail Center was seeing an uptick in business.

“It is different than normal,” said on-site manager John, who declined to give his last name. He deferred to the general manager, who is out of town as the dust-covered cars roll in.

On North McCarran Boulevard, near Rock Boulevard, the Seventh Day Adventist Tongan church youth group, Sea of Glass, thought it might be a good idea to raise money through a car wash.

“None of the burning man people stop,” said youth group treasurer Ofa Manu. “We see them all go by with their contraptions on their cars.”

The group was able to raise $150 that day toward a trip to New Zealand; however, none of the revenue came from playa players, Manu said.

Today, burners will create their own “car wash” in the desert, as the Art Car Wash hits the playa for another year.

As they drive through the wash, fuzzy spinning playa versions of car wash brushes will churn up the dust as car wash “attendants” dance to disco music and mist drivers with spray bottles.

The annual event traditionally ends Monday, the morning after the ceremonial burning of the temple. However, some stay to clean up after.

In 2008, the event cost the Black Rock City LLC more than $14 million. And while this year’s costs have not been calculated yet, the Nevada Department of Public Safety said in a press release that Burning Man generated 920 overtime hours for law enforcement, or 92 more 10-hour shifts that began on Sept. 1 and end today. These overtime hours are being paid by a contract entered with the event officials for $65,943, according to the release.