EDINBURG — An 8-year-old boy excitedly wanders through the courtyard here at Edinburg City Hall. He’s accompanied by his mother and alien friend “Fred” going from booth to booth, learning more about the mysteries of alien lifeforms.

This was a familiar sight Friday at Edinburg’s ninth annual UFO Festival and Conference, where community members like this child have gathered together at the city hall courtyard to explore the wonders of the unknown for years. And with each year, the enthusiasm grows.

Noe Torres, local author and UFO investigator, was excited to see how the interest and curiosity of Rio Grande Valley residents have increased since the inaugural event.

“The first year that we did it, in 2012, it was just a small little gathering. I mean we had about 500 people participate in the first one. It wasn’t what it is now … it is amazing to see how much it has changed,” Torres said Friday evening. “Now we see thousands of people that come to the events.”

The courtyard was decorated with various UFO decor, including an alien aircraft moon jump near the city hall building. Children were going from booth to booth collecting alien-themed merchandise.

Carolina Montemoyor, 7, has fun as she places her tinfoil hat on her head with others at the 10th annual UFO Festival at Edinburg City Hall on Friday, April 8, 2022, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])

Booths were also lined around the moon jump where children could create their own tinfoil hats, make paper aliens, and get their faces painted.

Nallely Jasso and her 8-year-old son, Raymundo, attended the event for the first time Friday.

“I wanted to come and see the aliens, I counted like six,” said Raymundo, with joy in his voice as he held onto a yellow paper alien he so graciously named Fred. “I thought it was awesome! My mom thought that some things were gross but I thought they were awesome.”

Nallely was happy to see her son enjoying the festivities and is excited to return for next year’s event.

“It’s definitely interesting, definitely something I would recommend other people to come and look at regardless if you believe or not,” Nallely said.

Judy Wilkin and her husband, Glenn, are winter visitors to the Valley who have always found the idea of extraterrestrial life fascinating; however, they did make sure to take precautions and wore tinfoil hats in case aliens decided to invade the event as well.

“Don’t want anybody reading my thoughts,” Judy said with a giggle.

As the sun began to set Friday, more and more people began to arrive in space-themed outfits — some with lights.

One girl wore a lit-up backpack of Grogu, better known as “Baby Yoda” from the Disney+ series “The Mandalorian,” while another wore a headdress in the shape of an alien spaceship with lights dangling all around the rim.

Chris Albert, who attended the event with his daughter, recalled moments from his childhood when he saw a documentary claiming that people found an alien and performed an autopsy live on television.

Although not a believer himself, he was always interested in films such as “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” the Star Wars films and “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.”

“I love the idea that people believe in it and come and celebrate this. They all come together and share in the fascination of the unknown and what could be out there,” Albert said.

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