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UFO Festival in McMinnville, Oregon

ufo festival

Cancel your spring travel plans, whatever they may be. Go to McMinnville, Oregon. Bring along an out-of-this-world costume.

Even on a regular weekend, this laid-back Willamette Valley town is worth a visit. There are vineyards you can ride your bike through and tasting rooms to sample their famous terroir-driven Pinot Noir an hour southwest of Portland in the heart of Oregon’s charming wine country. There’s a walkable downtown lined with maple trees where you can catch a movie in a theater tucked inside a pizza shop (yes, you can take your slice in) or duck into a store that specializes in artisanal jam. There’s Howard Hughes’ massive wooden Spruce Goose at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum.

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Then, every year since 1999, there have been aliens for one very special weekend. Thousands of ETs, Wookies, Yodas, Coneheads, astronauts, and possibly the family from 3rd Rock from the Sun descend on McMenamins for the annual McMenamins UFO Fest, the largest of its kind outside of Roswell, New Mexico.

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The McMenamins Hotel Oregon, built in 1905, serves as a base camp and has a rooftop bar with 360-degree views—ideal for spotting flying objects. And, unlike some other UFO festivals, McMinnville’s is inspired by an actual sighting in 1950, when farmers Evelyn and Paul Trent captured what is now the most famous photographic evidence of a hovering UFO. The photos made national headlines and were even published in Life magazine—and they have yet to be debunked to this day.

2015 ufo festival

This year’s festival was especially lit: after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the festival’s UFO Parade returned on Saturday, May 14, with a crowd of costume-clad believers (and perhaps some actual aliens hiding in plain sight?) marching around town. There was live music, vendors, an Alien Costume Ball, and a packed schedule of speaker events.

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This year’s speaker lineup included ufologist and writer Whitley Strieber, who pioneered the Syfy Channel’s UFO-search series Hunters and co-authored the book that inspired The Day After Tomorrow; journalist Alejandro Rojas and POLITICO senior correspondent Bryan Bender, who discussed how the US government plans to address and study UFO sightings following the UAP report in 2021; and UFO contact researcher Kathleen Marden, who took an in-depth look at the history and potential future of alien abductions.

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Shindigs and vendor fairs in and around the hotel are free, but tickets for presenters start at $25; especially dedicated guests can also purchase a VIP pass that grants access to all speaker events. Real-life extraterrestrials planning a visit to Earth for the big weekend should feel free to leave their starships wherever they want.

Accommodation in McMinnville

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