New Mexico

We come in peace. Or more accurately, we come to party! Welcome one and all to the Roswell UFO Festival in Roswell, New Mexico. Roswell has long been famous for its extraterrestrial connections. In the summer of 1947 (possibly late June or early July) it is alleged that the remnants of an alien spacecraft were found on the outskirts of the town. Included in the findings were rumored to be the bodies of the occupants, odd unnatural metal scraps, and strange unknown writing. Throughout the following years, what was originally said to be radar tracking balloon has been the subject of numerous inquisitions, hypotheses, conjecture, hoaxes, movies, books, television inquiries and more. Now over 60 years later, believers allege a massive cover up by the United States government to hide what they feel was in fact the crash of an alien spaceship. Out of this group of believers (together with skeptics and non believers) has arisen a folklore that is the subject of the now famous UFO Festival.

Every year thousands of people flock to New Mexico for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, a nine day event that is the largest hot air balloon festival in the world. The Fiesta began in 1972 as part of a 50th birthday celebration for KOB Radio and consisted of 13 balloons with around 20,000 spectators from the surrounding states. Today, hundreds of thousands of guests from around the world visit to see the magical images created by the hundreds of balloons painting the sky. Because of all these amazing visuals the Balloon Fiesta is one of the most photographed events on the planet.