Roswell UFO Festival: 8 Far Out Reasons You Should Go

You don’t have to believe in little green men to go to the Roswell UFO Festival. The annual event, which runs this year from July 3-6, celebrates the flying saucer folklore for which this small New Mexico town is famous. Real or imagined, extraterrestrials have brought hordes of humans to Roswell, and most would agree that the four-day UFO Festival plays host to the largest number of antennae per acre of anywhere in this world. Whether you’re a UFOlogist or skeptic, truth-seeker or debunker, an array of family-friendly entertainment activities offers something for just about everyone. If you go, here are the best activities to get in on:

1. Come dressed as your favorite Martian: There just aren’t many opportunities to show up in public wearing a green stretch polyester jumpsuit, and maybe that’s why the Alien Costume Contest is so popular. At this major festival draw, grown-ups and kids alike don other-worldly get-ups or dress as famous characters to compete for prizes. 
2. Get your pet in on the act, too: While no one can resist a Darth Vader dog or Princess Leia puppy, the Alien Pet Contest goes beyond space dogs to include cosmic cats and guinea pigs, and perhaps even a few “beam-me-up” bunnies.
    
3. See the Light Parade: This evening parade features a range of imaginative floats with aliens and spaceships. Costume contest participants are free to join in and seize another occasion to woo the crowd.
    
4. Visit the International UFO Museum and Research Center: This not-to-be-missed museum is the hub of the festival, with a few new features in store including a prop from the movie Aliens, and another—yet undisclosed—prop from one of the first sci-fi movies ever made.
    
5. Hear out-of-this-world speakers: This year’s guest speaker line-up consists of authors, alien hunters, researchers in the field of UFO studies, and television personalities. Learn about UFO investigations and hear first-person accounts of strange phenomena.
    
6. Take your pick of marathons and muddy alternatives: Participate in the Alien Chase, a 5k and 10k walk/run for people of all ages. Additionally, at the nearby New Mexico Military Institute, the Alien Mudder offers a 5K mud run, while kids ages 6-13 can frolic in a muddy obstacle course.
    
7. Ogle the cosmos: Lots of free events are happening at the Robert H. Goddard Planetarium, from shows for kids about astronomy and space science, to lectures for adults about exoplanets and more. Peer through the telescopes on the front lawn and learn how to identify those night-time twinkles.
    
8. Dance under the stars: You’ll find three stages along Roswell’s Main Street, featuring music from funk to rock to blues. For other entertainment options, check out fire twirlers, street performers, hula hoop dancers, and a whole lot more.

Source