EDINBURG — Aliens Edin and Burg stood in the middle of a large circle made by humans and their little ones Friday evening at the city’s ninth annual UFO Festival and Conference.
A spokesman for the humans, or an announcer, asked the aliens what they were doing in Edinburg.
“So, we heard that this festival happens every year and is one of the best in the entire galaxy, so we said, ‘You know what? Let’s go and check it out,’” Burg told the massive crowd.
Among the crowd were little earthlings with toys and plastic attire such as glasses that lit up, parents chaperoning, supernatural enthusiasts and various casual attendees with tin foil hats.
With all eyes on Edin and Burg, whose turn it was to address the human, the other aliens also attending stood behind them in a line: a slender alien with a massive green head accompanied by another alien in a silver, futuristic dress with a green bodysuit, an anime alien cheerleader wearing a silver and green uniform with ‘ALIENS’ across the top holding silver pom-poms and an alien whose distinct face was only visible as they dressed in human clothing and wore a tin foil hat.
As for Edin, his extra-terrestrial features stem out from the top of his head with extra eyes as he held a galactic weapon to accompanying Burg, who was wearing attire that resembled a dress, but instead of fabric, was in fact a spaceship with fire as ruffles and holding an exact replica of Edin’s weapon.
“We are here to learn from you and humans,” Edin told the crowd, hoping they could take the knowledge back to their home planet.
Humans, and the festival’s special guests, were so blown away by Edin and Burg’s story and appearance that the duo ended up winning the festival’s costume contest.
“It’s a lot of fun and totally unexpected.” Nayelly Barrios, Burg’s real name, said. “We weren’t planning on entering the contest, we just wanted to do a cool thing.”
Previously, the festival was slated for August 2020, but due to the pandemic, the event was postponed.
The three-day festival kicked off on Thursday with a free, open mic night at the Edinburg Food Truck Park, where attendees were welcome to share their accounts of personal encounters.
On Friday, the opening night of the festival successfully kicked off at the Edinburg City Hall, with various activities for all ages such as a light show and a costume contest.
There were other interactive booths such as a chance to speak and meet the guest speakers, a booth for the Edinburg Arts Foundation and a booth dedicated to Juneteenth, a state holiday for the Black community to celebrate the emancipation of those who were enslaved in the United States.
Various food vendors provided homemade cuisine for attendees to enjoy, such as (but not limited to) tostadas, tortas, Mexican burgers and hotdogs, shrimp tacos, Philly cheesesteaks as well as desserts such as funnel cakes and mini donuts.
Local arts and crafts vendors were also in attendance to sell jewelry, accessories such as hats and bows, masks, and original art pieces, from paintings to wooden sculptures.
But the busiest booth was the city’s tin foil station, in which attendees were made and given a hat. Some believers wear hats made from tin foil believing it will protect against government surveillance or mind control by extraterrestrial beings.
As for Barrios, and her husband Sergio Cuevas, or Edin, the couple have previously attended the city’s annual UFO festival throughout the years, though Barrios said they haven’t previously dressed up like they did Friday.
Instead of wearing tin foil hats and cute blouses, which she said was just simple attire, Barrios said they wanted to do something cool.
Later, when she was halfway finished with their costumes, Barrios said her husband told her about the costume contest.
“He said, ‘We should sign up,’ and I said, ‘OK, well I’m already making this, so let’s just sign up,” Nayelly recalled.
While Edin and Burg took first place, along with a trophy, a basket filled with goodies, free funnel cake and lemonade, the anime alien cheerleader took home second place.
After the costume contest, the festival continued another laser light show space jam with four, tall robots dancing along with the children in attendance to the Village People’s YMCA, the Cupid Shuffle and the Macarena, to name a few.
Saturday, the last day of the festival, was set to close with a conference featuring the special guests: former UFO investigator for the British Ministry of Defence Nick Pope, alien hunter and former military police officer and CIA operative Darrel Sims, UFO and paranormal investigator Ben Hansen, host and producer for The Vortex Daniel Alan Jones and former operations specialist and top gun air intercept controller for the U.S. Navy Kevin Day.
