Roswell 2008 UFO Festival in Review
Mike Smith
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Tuesday, July 8, 2008, marks the 61st Anniversary of the day that the Roswell Daily Record broke the biggest story in its history on Tuesday, July 8, 1947, announcing that the Roswell Army Airfield (RAAF) had captured a downed flying saucer.
Now 61 years later another Roswell UFO Festival has come and gone, and despite the fact that this year’s anniversary ended in neither a five nor a zero, the publicity for the event was surprisingly high. Perhaps it was due to the fact that last years 60th Anniversary Festival was one of the most highly attended festivals since the 1997 50th anniversary.
Whatever the case, this year’s festival kicked off with a broadcast by the CBS “Early Show.” Larry King had several guests for several nights discussing the Roswell Incident the week of the festival and the History Channel showed up in Roswell to film another documentary on the crash as well.
Programs were held at the Robert H. Goddard Planetarium on extraterrestrials, and many serious lectures took place at Pearson Auditorium, one by Roswell’s own ufologist Dennis Balthaser, and more lectures occurred at the International UFO Museum and Research Center as part of their 2008 Roswalien Experience. During a lecture on death bed confessions relating to the Roswell Incident by Tom Carey and Don Schmitt a woman in the audience asked what had happened to the surviving alien from the crash. Carey answered with the theory that it died sometime a few years later under government custody, but he also added that there was another story concerning a surviving alien being shot by guards at the front RAAF base gate told to him by yours truly and author John Tilley.
There was also drag racing at Area 51 Drag Strip, a 5K Alien Chase, a UFO Disc Golf Tournament at Enchanted Hills National Park, and even a play, “Alien Hunters of the ET Café,” by Christi Bradshaw. In addition to the usual alien costume contest for humans, there was a costume contest for animals this year. We could go on describing all the events held, but you get the picture.
All in all it seems Roswell’s UFO Festival has had a good year, just how good though, will only be certain after the attendance numbers are tallied.
—John LeMay
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