Thousands Invaded Roswell For UFO fest

By: Lauren Hansard, KOB Eyewitness News 4

They came from all over the world to see something out of this world.

“The numbers speak for itself,” said Roswell UFO Museum Executive Director Mark Briscoe.

Briscoe said nearly 7,000 people visited the museum this weekend.

“Since I was a child I wanted to come here,” said Roy DeLeon. “I’ve wanted to come here since I was eight years old,” said Norman Huggins.

The festival had its’ highest attendance in 15 years. And they came from all over the world.

“We had people here from France, we had a lot of people here from Japan, we had them here from Greece,” said Briscoe. “We had them here from Ireland, London. It’s just mind boggling you never know who you’re going to run into or talk to and they’re all from foreign countries.”

According to Briscoe, the world’s fascination with aliens is growing.

“There’s so much more out there now, people are talking about it more, it’s on the news,” said Briscoe.

And the city of Roswell is booming from the fascination.

Big D’s burger joint says it was the busiest weekend they’ve had since opening four years ago.

“Oh yeah from 11 to, I mean we’re pulling 12 hour days here just to keep up, trying to go into grocery stores, buying extra groceries just to handle the business,” said owner Don Nason.

According to organizers of the event, you couldn’t get a hotel room in Roswell.

People were staying in Artesia and Ruidoso and commuting to Roswell.

“It hasn’t gone away, you know it’s very interesting,” said DeLeon. “We don’t know what’s beyond the stars, that’s what’s amazing. Will we ever know, I don’t know.”