By Sebastian Kettley
UFO Festival 2018 in Roswell, the world’s largest gathering of alien truthers and UFO hunters, kicks off next month. Here is everything you need to know.
The popular UFO and alien convention will take over the city of Roswell, New Mexico, between July 6 and July 8.
Tens of thousands of paranormal enthusiast are expected to arrive at the convention hosted at the most notorious UFO sighting city in the world.
Last year, more than 38,000 people from 43 states and 16 different counties paid a visit to the massive get-together.
The annual UFO festival will feature stalls, parades and even a petting zoo all set up on streets of Roswell.
The event organisers said: “The City of Roswell invites UFO enthusiasts and sceptics alike to join in the celebration of one of the most debated incidents in history.
“If it isn't on your bucket list it should be, and once you attend you may find, like many of the festival visitors, it becomes one our your annual vacation plans.”
Roswell has become popular for UFO hunters after ab alleged crash-landing of an extraterrestrial flying saucer on a ranch 30 miles north of Roswell sometime in early July 1947.
The Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF) officially claimed the downed object was a weather balloon but the incident sparked the imaginations of UFO truthers for generations to come.
GETTY
GETTY
Seventy-one years later and the Roswell incident is still very much part of the debate about our place in the universe and the possibility of alien life.
From July 6 to July 8 this year, the UFO Festival 2018 will host a series of expert panels and speeches from some of the most prolific voices in the UFO truther community.
The organisers said the featured entertainment covers everything from music, food and family activities to alien autopsies and “so much more”.
Kathy Lay, Executive Director for MainStreet Roswell, said: “You have people all over the city. There will be some out at the mall at Galactic Con.
“Some will be at the UFO museum doing the seminars and workshops.
GETTY
"You'll have some that will be going to the plays that are going on, some will be over at the planetarium, some will be here at this festival. They're all over."
This year the event will even feature a variety of cute animals at the Runyan Ranches Petting Zoo, ready to be played with and fed all day long.
Early birds who pop into to the Chaves County Courthouse on the day of the festival will be treated to their very own Roswell UFO Passport.
A number of alien goody bags have also been prepared in advance for lucky revellers.
