UFO Festival, Roswell, New Mexico

Every July ufologists and alien fanatics gather in the small town of Roswell, New Mexico, to remember the day in 1947 when a UFO crashed in the remote desert confirming the fact that we are not alone in the universe.

The annual UFO Festival takes place the week of July 4th every year. Humans dressed as aliens and extraterrestrial pets are a few of the unusual things that accompany the kids rides, haunted house, vendors, numerous experts in the UFO field, various seminars, costume contest, and the famous Roswell parade. For more information visit the UFO Festival website at http://www.roswellufofestival.com/. Book your hotel early as they fill up fast.


Be sure to stop by the UFO Museum as that is where all the action is.



My husband, 10 year old son, and I went to the festival in 2008. We stayed at one of the two Best Western hotels in town. Now I'm sure the Sally Port Best Western is a fine hotel but the Best Western El Rancho Palacio, located at 2205 North Main Street, left a lot to be desired. I booked the hotel months in advance and ended up here. Like I said book EARLY! I would only recommend this hotel if you are on a budget as it was one of the cheaper hotels. The free continental breakfast was decent but that's about it. Even though this hotel is located on the main drag, it is too far to walk to where the action is.

For souvenirs go to Wal-Mart on the North side of town. They have a whole section in the front of the store with just about every kind of alien paraphernalia you could want and they are cheaper than other places.

We ate at a mexican restaurant located a block South of the UFO Museum called El Toro Bravo. Talk about good but affordable food. I would recommend this place. The Crashdown Cafe (based on the Crashdown Diner in the television show Roswell) as shown in one of my photos below is sadly no longer there although I heard they may reopen in the future.

The parade is one of the bigger aspects of the festival. It was not as good as I expected it to be. The best part was the little dog dyed green toward the end of the parade. View the video below to see for yourself. Warning: I am NO videographer! View at your own risk. The video is of the entire parade. The parade takes place on Main Street in front of the UFO Museum. Arrive about an hour early to get a good space on the street. We parked on a side street across from the mexican restaurant and sat in the back of the truck.

We also went to the 4th of July Fireworks at the fairgrounds. This was a pretty good production. Don't miss it. Seems like everyone came out of the woodwork for this event. It was pretty crowded.

There are numerous seminars about aliens, UFOs, etc. I thought my son would be bored so we didn't attend these. I believe you might need to pre-register and pay a fee. There is a costume contest, showing of the movie Roswell, various bands playing, and a few things for the kids to do such as a jump house and kiddie rides. This might sound like a grand event but really, it was rather small. If you have any interest in aliens I would suggest going once to check it out.

There are other neat things to do in this neck of the woods. Carlsbad Caverns is a short drive South of Roswell and White Sands National Monument is Southwest of Roswell. Carlsbad was so crowded during the festival we could not get tickets for the cave tour but took a drive down a dirt road in the park marked on the visitor map which was very interesting. Saw a few salamanders, lots of plants and great scenery. White Sands is a very unique place in that the sand dunes are actually white. It feels like you are on a different planet. It is located near a military base. We saw military aircraft flying over while we were there.
















White Sands National Monument