UFO Festival 2009 [Archive]

saw

06-08-2009, 07:03 PM

July 10, 2008 Headlines RDR "Fest declared a huge success."

"Roach (City Marketing Director) said committee members expected attendance to be lower than last year's festival, marking the 60th anniversary of the Roswell incident,...but we were just blown away by the participation and the number of people we saw this year."

The lodgers tax reports indicated that motel revenues dropped by $94,000.00 from 2007 to 2008 for the month of July.

Gross receipts tax reports indicated that revenues dropped about $1,750,000.00 from 2007 to 2008 for the month of July.

Gross receipts tax reports indicated that gross revenues dropped about $4,470,000.00 from June 2008 to July 2008.

Fest huge success ???????:new_shocked:

Got a peek at his year's budget and it does not show that us taxpayers will be spending as much money on parties as we did last year. I guess we are going to reuse the glow in the dark ice cubes that we spent $600.00 plus on last year.

I will imput more of the 2009 budget figures soon.

Oh, I forgot this is lodger's tax which is not a local taxpayer's tax unless we pay it in another city.

saw

06-13-2009, 01:11 PM

I understand that we did not get a an up-date on the UfO Festival at the council meeting Thursday night. I missed the meeting, someone bring me up to date please.

mfish

06-14-2009, 10:23 AM

Saw - To address your question, since it's actually more on-point with this thread, here's what I know:

From what I'm hearing, the UFO Festival is once again being thrown together at the last minute. As of last week, the city's website had not been updated. As of last week, the website for one of the major musical acts coming town (one of the many versions of the Temptations - which was booked at the last minute in a panic by the illustrious Joe Varagas at Parks & Wreck - yes, I spelled it that way intentionally) had not been updated either. Another group/band that no one has ever heard of is supposed to be playing this year, too (I don't know their name - like I said, no one has ever heard of them).

KBIM Radio is bringing a version of Jefferson Airplane / Starship, and I've heard very little about that event - or which if any, of the original members of the band(s) will be appearing.

SERTOMA of course, has its act together dealing with the ANNUAL Salute to Veterans (complete with feeding the veterans) and the Mike Satterfield Memorial Fireworks display, for the 4th of July (BeeBee - do you see any duplicity here, or does that even matter to you and yours?)

The UFO Museum isn't communicating with the UFO Festival Committee (again) so who knows which speakers they'll be bringing back yet again for yet another slew of conferences. As I understand it, the UFO Museum learned the hard way and is sticking to its little band of conspiracy theorists and UFOlogists and isn't trying to stray too far from that mode.

And most of the UFO committee isn't notified when a meeting is called, from what I hear.

So it's pretty much "business as usual" for yet another Roswell special event that will ultimately be dubbed a huge success once it's over, regardless of the actual numbers that roll in (or don't, as the case may be).

Daisy

06-15-2009, 07:56 AM

Yep, it's an amazing thing about our city leaders - they figure if they say something loud enough and long enough, it will become true, by golly!! saw's data shows that no matter how much they boast of the 2008 UFO Festival's success, it just ain't soooooo. :no3:

Rainbow

06-15-2009, 05:40 PM

Rainbow what is your problem with COTM?
If you'll notice the dates of the posts you're objecting too, you'll see that they are almost two years old. Rainbow is long gone from the forum, so she won't be answering your question.

Daisy, Thank you for setting the record straight for Kevin by pointing out that the post he "scolded" me on was in 2007! Right you are, I haven't posted in ages, but I do take a peek now and again.

Startling as it may seem, I am agreeing with Fish more and more. He might not live here, but he has a wealth of info and I have noted that I may not like what he says, but he is often right and I agree with his right to say it!

Kevin, regarding your comments on YOUR church, Church on the Move, my opinion hasn't changed. They may be walking quietly but they are still carrying a big stick. I trust these sayings, "Beware of a wolf in sheeps clothing" and "There is no such thing as a free lunch." Two years ago the mayor told me to my face in his office that the dates for the UFO festival were changed because COTM said they would post people outside of the city limits with signs telling people to go home if the UFO fest and their God & Country event was the same weekend. The UFO date was changed. NO church should have that much power in or over a city. COTM has consistently planned events to draw people away from the UFO festival or duplicate events. "Unity"??? I think not. Diversity? OK, I guess I can bring my lesbian friends to COTM and they will be welcomed, not judged or condemned and allowed to join? Let's see. Religious hypocrisy is alive and well in Roswell I am sorry to say.

All of you nay-sayers on the questionable success of past and up-coming UFO festivals...RIGHT ON! Every year it is the same thing by the same people with the same results...a dud! Interesting that AAA magazine recently said we had 50,000 people. Wow, why don't we do the census during UFO week?

Rainbow

06-15-2009, 06:15 PM

I wanted to clarify something in my previous post. I didn't mean to say that "I may not agree with Fish", because I actually am finding myself agreeing with him more and more. I should have said, "I may not always agree with Fish...".

Perhaps after a new-comer to Roswell has been rejected, ignored, maligned, put down and kicked around enough times by those in long-time leadership positions one begins to see things in a different light. My experiences in the last few years have allowed me to appreciate Fish and his knowledge and experience in ways I couldn't before.

I have removed the rose colored glasses!

Daisy

06-15-2009, 07:59 PM

Wow - long time, no read, Rainbow! :)

Two years ago the mayor told me to my face in his office that the dates for the UFO festival were changed because COTM said they would post people outside of the city limits with signs telling people to go home if the UFO fest and their God & Country event was the same weekend.

IF what the mayor said was true, then he and his cronies should have grown some stones and refused to change the date for the Festival. I would have been appalled at the gall of any 'Christian' to say such a thing and would have stood my ground, so they knew they weren't (pardon me) God.

BeeBee

06-15-2009, 08:02 PM

Rainbow

First I wasn’t here in 2007 so I have no idea if the festival dates were changed to COTM. The thread said UFO Festival 2009, and I responded to it.

Kevin, regarding your comments on YOUR church, Church on the Move, my opinion hasn't changed.
Why should COTM change, they are bible based and don’t plan to change just because hope and change is in the air.

I trust these sayings, "Beware of a wolf in sheeps clothing" and "There is no such thing as a free lunch."Who is the wolf? Has COTM taken something from you? There is no such thing as a free lunch."??????
Free lunch has COTM ever demanded public assistance?

OK, I guess I can bring my lesbian friends to COTM and they will be welcomed, not judged or condemned and allowed to join?As I said COTM is a BIBLE BASED CHURCH, we love everyone. But, as Christians we would try to teach you to live by the word. I am sorry but the bible is to the point about homosexuality. You can call it hypocrisy all you want; I didn’t write it but will follow it.
• Romans 1:27 NIV
In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion

I am the first to say the UFO Festival needs to go and experience other festivals. Learn from successful festivals across the country, like the Strawberry Festival in Poteet, Texas. I believe the festival hasn’t touched the tip of the iceberg of success? Do you guys volunteer for the festival? I believe your input is needed. COTM is one of the most giving churches in our community; please find another excuse to rant.

Daisy

06-15-2009, 08:11 PM

The thread said UFO Festival 2009, and I responded to it.

Actually, the thread was UFO Festival 2008 and I closed it and moved some of it to this thread.

Please stick to the UFO Festival topic, y'all. That's what this thread is about. If you want to discuss Church on the Move, you can open that thread here. (http://www.talkroswell.com/talk/forumdisplay.php?f=139)

rover

06-15-2009, 08:22 PM

A year or two after the first annual UFO Festival, which was a really big deal, we had some big crowd-drawing entertainers (Willie Nelson for one) coming and wanting to return every year. Then myopic townspeople like Joe Vargas thought they were taking money spent here out of here...Those myopics like Vargas never considered (or cared??) how much money those crowds spent on motel rooms, meals, souvenirs, etc...And our UFO Festival has never been the same since. Poor planning; arrogant Julie of the UFO Museum getting the big head and declaring Roswell wouldn't be on the map if not for them, then refusing to be a team-player, running conflicting events...all contributed to the duds we've had ever since. Julie should consider that few come to Roswell to sit and listen to boring lectures on UFOlogy mostly presented by nuts...People come to Roswell and locals participate most of all for fun and entertainment...That's what brings them back, the repeats and all those they tell about the great time they had here. Well, I live here and I haven't even bothered to go down town during UFO Festival, or invite guests to come for this event for several years. It's no fun.

KiraSonne

06-15-2009, 09:35 PM

I had a lot of fun last year at the UFO festival, I met the lady who plays the mom of EeeeLiiiiiOtttt in ET! I got my first kiss in that movie ;)

I wished we would have a lot of other celebrations. Like Chisum-Street fair, Honoring the Hispanic Street fair, International Street fair etc. ... and it would be nice, if it would be in autumn, because the temperatures wouldn't be so brutal.

If you think this is far fetched? Other towns smaller then Roswell do it, as Akron, NY (other themes of course).

Rainbow

06-16-2009, 07:32 AM

The UFO festival has so much potential. As a friend of mine used to say, "We are walking through a field of diamonds with a pitchfork."

To have a really successful event, all of the entities need to come together. They all need to start on the same page and work together in plannng the events to appeal to all who attend, not duplicate events and not overlap the major events to allow people to attend as many as they want.

The organizers need to enbrace and welcome new people who just might have fresh ideas. Publicity needs to be strong.

Locally, our businesses should get behind the event by posting signs out front of their establishments relating to the UFO's/Aliens so that people start to feel the excitement as soon as they enter the city. Apparently this was done in the past judging from the broken, faded and worn out aliens still on some of the businesses! (C'mon, can you fix those up?) Kids could do art work to display in the empty strore windows on Main Street. Alien foot prints could be painted on the sidewalks directing people around downtown. So many things could be done to step it up. Unfortunately, egos get in the way as does this religious mentality that UFO's and Aliens are BAD, Bad, Evil! Hello...December 25th was a made up date so I HOPE none of you recognize Santa or the Easter Bunny in any way shape or form.

Can you just support the town?

So far, I am too embarrassed to invite people to Roswell for the UFO thing. If people are coming from places that have successful festivals they would laugh at our contribution! Sorry.

saw

06-16-2009, 06:40 PM

In my opinion. the first thing is that the city has to do is get real. They go out and put out false attendance numbers. Then they state that all of the motels are sold out. Who is going to come to a remote city to spend a couple of days without a place to sleep in July? The motels last year had a good week, but no where near sold out.

There will be about 1300 motel rooms total in Roswell by the first of July. If you put three people in each room and the average stay is two nights and if the festival last four nights that will provide beds for 7800 folks. Nowhere near the count the city puts out of 35,000 to 55,000 visitors.

Some 2009 budget figures:
1. Lodgers tax $150,000.00
NM Tourism grant $10,000.00
balance of the Community foundation account $2047.00
Amount from sponsorships and revenues $12,153.00
Total budget $162,047.00
2. New item Peter Robbins' consulant fee plus travel $15,000.00 (he was one of the speakers last year)
3. National media advertising $16,800.00* ( NM magazine $8,200.00, American Airlines in-flight Mag. $6,200.00, etc)
Local/regional media placement $10,000.00*, website updates $1,500.00*, website maintenance $1,500.00*, public relations $10,000.00*, Account services/creative time $13,500.00*, photographer $3,000.00*.
(* Rick Johnson Co. of Albuquerque total about $70,000.00)

4. Volunteer, staff & committee T-shirts $1,500.00, committee shirts $1,000.00, committee "cast" party $500.00.

5. Entertainment for July 4th celebration grand finale $10,000.00.

Rainbow

06-16-2009, 09:25 PM

I think if the truth be known about everything and everyone connected to the UFO festi-dull, our heads would explode.

Rover is right, people are constantly butting heads because they have their own egos and agendas. True UFO fanatics who want the lectures travel all over the world to listen to speakers. Most of them could care less about the fun aspect or our actual annual event. Those who want the fun aspect could care less about the serious UFOlogists and the speakers who come. So there is a niche for both and the festi-dull should try to meet that desire. Instead both sides dig their heels in and the event is fractured and divided. "Us against them".

I remember back in the 90's when an event was held at De Bremmond and they must have had around 8 booths. Why? Because vendors were only allowed who sold UFO related items. Thus eliminating potential customers who perhaps didn't care to purchase UFO stuff but would have been quite interested to shop a quilt or fine art booth! See the narrow field of vision people have? We have art and craft festivals throuout the year, why not hold one during the festival when a bigger audience is here? The crafts shouldn't all have to be UFO related.

Imagine if you will, if Sertoma, the city and COTM joined forces to put on THE most spectacular fireworks around complete with booths and bands and refreshments? Music all day of all sorts...even CHRISTIAN music and country and Mexican. Now THAT is diversity!

Imagine if Main Street was lined with food and craft booths and OH MY GOD, some local wine and beer sold in commorative glasses to raise funds? I dare say it works in hundreds of other towns large and small without incident and with much participation and financial benefit.

Imagine decorative flags on the light poles, a banner stretched across Main Street, a welcome sign on the NMMI elevated walkway. Prizes for the best decorated home or business. How about a laser show?

Oh yes...so many new and exciting things IF ONLY people would join forces.

We COULD search for another kind of festival to have as someone suggested, (we DO have the Chili-Cheese Festival), but why reinvent the wheel? Roswell is known all over the world for the UFO incident. We have something unique to bring people. But if people are going to drive all this way, they expect someting amazing! Instead of fighting it, find ways to make it work for everyone.

As for this year...I will check it out with eyes of a visitor and see what I think.

KiraSonne

06-17-2009, 11:01 PM

Well, I enjoyed it a lot the last two years and I am so looking forward to it this year.

And every year there are improvements. It's practise, practise... adapting and having fun. I wished the down town shops would get a bit more involved and creative. All we have is that "rallye with stamps". It is the same with the city as with the country. Less government more personal involvement.

Quoting "Rick Kraft".... Just a thought....

Kira

KiraSonne

06-17-2009, 11:06 PM

I think if the truth be known about everything and everyone connected to the UFO festi-dull, our heads would explode.

Imagine if Main Street was lined with food and craft booths and OH MY GOD, some local wine and beer sold in commorative glasses to raise funds? I dare say it works in hundreds of other towns large and small without incident and with much participation and financial benefit.

Imagine decorative flags on the light poles, a banner stretched across Main Street, a welcome sign on the NMMI elevated walkway. Prizes for the best decorated home or business. How about a laser show?

*sigh* I miss Germany.... Those commemorative glasses where a passion of mine. My collection stopped 10 years ago, when I moved here. It would be great to have your ideas coming to live!!!

Rainbow

06-18-2009, 12:09 AM

Kirasonne,

Thanks for the comments. Yes...patience, patience. Maybe one of these days I will be surprised. I would be hypocritical if I only complain so I will make sure to attend some of the acitivities and see if I find improvments. I was looking on line at a festival another state held...2nd largest UFO festival in the country. They had pictures of their costume contest and pet costumes. Very creative.

I HOPE that people will get behind the parade and not just walk or drive a car but actually decorate themselves or their cars. Those tissue paper floats from the 50's and 60's were so fun. People need to get more creative. we ought to have a Talk Roswell float!!!! Boy that would irk some people!!! A bunch of Aliens at desks with computers!!!!

Well, maybe we can meet up at Pecos Winery and toast our ideas! Then buy the glass!!!!

saw

06-18-2009, 12:56 PM

My problem with the "big show" is that the taxpayers spend a lot of bucks for the benefit of a few. The UFO Museum gets a big free ride, then the motels, restaurants, and bars.

My records go back to 2002 and the gross receipts is always greater in June than they are in July save one year, 2007 when July was greater than June which indicates to me that the festival does not give the local economy a big boost.

We spend big bucks advertising the festival nationwide which I don't think we need to do. Roswell already has the title of "the alien city". The dedicated "UFOers" will come if they want to. Most folks that I have talked to that are not "UFOers" thinks the whole thing is pretty "Mickey Mouse".

Last year (2008) Julie Shuster said 7,216 UFO enthusiasts attended lectures, workshops, celebrity appearances and other events. That makes her the big winner.

My thoughts: Turn the whole UFO festival over to Julie Shuster (she wants it) and the city kick in five grand or so for advertising. Maybe donate the use of the civic center.

Roswell will have the traditional 4th of July events, fireworks, parades, etc. and the taxpayer would be out very little money for these events.

Then later in the year, say October, have a real festival which will include all of the things that festivals have (concerts, free entertainment, car show, motorcycle show, merchant participation, flags, banners, sidewalk sales, big promotions by the merchants, give away a new pickup, in other words, have a big carnival going on all over town) Maybe do something extra special at Bitterlakes, lots of birds in October.

There are more than 320,000 residents in Southeast New Mexico. If we could just get one in ten to Roswell that would be 32,000 visitors. Five of the largest cities in the state are in SENM.

The weather is better in October than July for all outside activities, we would not be competing with ever town with a stop sign in SENM for the July 4th crowds. Advertising could be done at a fraction of what it cost now and not send $70,000.00 plus out of town.

Of course, the big trick would be to get the merchants to participate. Used to be that most all of the merchants were local, not so anymore. Oh my, I just woke up, it was a nice dream.:ohwell:

KiraSonne

06-19-2009, 12:16 AM

Kirasonne,
I HOPE that people will get behind the parade and not just walk or drive a car but actually decorate themselves or their cars. Those tissue paper floats from the 50's and 60's were so fun. People need to get more creative. we ought to have a Talk Roswell float!!!! Boy that would irk some people!!! A bunch of Aliens at desks with computers!!!!

Hi, Rainbow, well, maybe we can meet up at Pecos Winery and toast our ideas! Then buy the glass!!!!

Well, this year, I will do my share. We can't change others, only do our share ;) Yeah, and stopping at the Pecos Winery is a neat idea!

KiraSonne

06-19-2009, 12:28 AM

Of course, the big trick would be to get the merchants to participate. Used to be that most all of the merchants were local, not so anymore. Oh my, I just woke up, it was a nice dream.:ohwell:

Oh, sweety, never give up and never surrender. And just because some shops aren't owned by locals, that does not mean they can not embrace the spirit, I mean they benefit of it especially. Me, personally, I love to sit at Pepper's or at Not of this World and watch the tourists. It is so much fun. It is one of the few times I go downtown. And I bet I am not the only one.

I am going to come to Talk Roswell Meeting. So looking forward to it on the 30th.

Have a good week-end.

saw

06-19-2009, 11:12 AM

I was talking about merchants that would put in big bucks to bring new business to town. The big merchants in town now don't care if they get business to Roswell or not because if they don't get it here they will get it in Artesia, Hobbs, Carlsbad, Ruidoso, Clovis, Alamogordo, etc.

See what I mean?

Rainbow

06-20-2009, 08:12 AM

The UFO Festival is an interesting topic with lots of thoughts, opinions and ideas. I understand a lot of the points Saw makes. And I really like the idea of going downtown to people watch, KiraSonne. I sure wish we had the sidewalk cafes, breweries and the pedestrian mall like they have in Downtown Denver where you can have coffee, food, drinks, sip a beer or wine and socialize while hundreds of people are strolling and shopping around you.

I personally believe that no matter what anyone tries to do, the UFO festival is never going to be a gigantic event because we are out in the middle of no where and funds are limited. Once you have gone through the museum and a few events, what is left to do? I recently returned from a trip to Denver. They were having an Art festival. But they also have pro ball, an amusement Park, tons of museums, a big Zoo, an Aquarium, restaurants galore and on and on. The Art festival might be your main destination, but you would need a few weeks to see everything else within a 50 mile radius. If people drive to Roswell, even if they decide to visit the museums and zoo while at the UFO fest, this is a long way to come for very few attractions, (and I use that term loosely). I think the majority of festival visitors are locals, and those who come from afar must have an attraction to the UFO mystery to actually make Roswell their destination during the fest. (Unless they are also doing other attractions outside of Roswell.)

It is a lie when motels are reported at capacity. I personally called or visited all of the motels and did a poll on the 60th and discovered there were rooms available. If we had the number of people that is reported, we wouldn't have enough restaurants to feed the people. How many places serve breakfast in this town??? We'd have lines down the streets. We’d have traffic jams and actually have no rooms available.

I think it is cool that people all over the world know about Roswell and I think we are lucky to have that reputation so we can capitalize on it as much as possible and put on a festival every year. But it is what it is and while it can be made better in many areas, it is never going to be a huge event attracting 50,000+ people or even 25,000 people regardless of what is reported.

I do think we could attract more local people if the city, the UFO museum, the churches and businesses made peace and joined together to appeal to the masses and put on one heck of a celebration. If it became spectacular, perhaps more people from around the state would come as well.

My alien hat is off to those who work the festival because they must feel like they are swimming up stream or treading water to make it what it is. I know they must work very hard. I guess they get some sense of it all being worth it to read reports of 50,000 visitors enjoying the fruits of their labors. Bless you.

saw

06-21-2009, 01:32 PM

I commented on an earlier post about all of the towns in the area competing for the tourist dollar and I thought these figures might be interesting.

Roswell's lodgers tax third quarter 08 (July, August, September, the best 1/4 of the year) $262,265.00
Ruidoso's was $466,801.00
Ruidoso Down's was $76,241.00
Lincoln County's was $24,806.00

Roswell just like Carlsbad has never got it together and both have things that would draw a lot of tourist.

mfish

06-22-2009, 06:14 AM

Ruidoso has four seasons of full activity and things to do ... location, location, location ...

Rainbow

06-22-2009, 06:33 AM

Boy you are right on that comment, Fish. Ruidoso has a "downtown" that is fun to go to even if nothing else is happening. Plus they have a little water park, maybe even miniature golf??? So many types of shops and restaurants. I take out of town guests up to Ruidoso to window shop, stroll and dine, but I wouldn't think about taking them to our Main Street strictly to stroll and definately not to dine.

I usher them into the UFO Museum because they insist, and then into the UFO Gift Shop because at least it isn't cluttered with crap, and we head straight to the Pecos Valley Winery so I can get them to forget they actually went in to the UFO Museum which I find embarrassing. As long as we have those sad and broken Aliens on buildings, and UFO shops that have no creative decor, I just like to stay away from Main Street. Main and 2nd are the most traveled and yet in the most need of a facelift. HOW in the world can we not have a successful restauarnt in the old Denny's??? Geeze!

Too bad ALL of the shops on Main Street were not the quality of the winery, Finishing Touches, Barringers and a few others? (My apologies to some of the businesses I have not been in to in awhile because there are probably some more that have done a good job of decorating and merchandising.)

I have to say...we do have some great art museums! But Lord help our Main Street!

mfish

06-22-2009, 07:28 AM

...and then into the UFO Gift Shop because at least it isn't cluttered with crap...

Since when?

mfish

06-22-2009, 07:28 AM

HOW in the world can we not have a successful restauarnt in the old Denny's???

Parking issues.

Rainbow

06-22-2009, 02:43 PM

Fish, I am still laughing at the "since when" comment regarding the crap at the UFO Museum gift shop.

I should have said that at least the UFO crap at the Museum gift shop is pretty much limited to UFO themed stuff and it is organized as opposed to some of the shops that have UFO crap mixed in with the usual tourist crap mixed in with just plain old crap. Unfortunately, our out of town visitors usually want to take UFO crap home so I have no choice but to take them someplace to buy it and as long as we are at the museum it "kills two aliens with one stone" if they shop at the UFO store. Your comment was very funny and on target!

Yes, the Denny's parking lot is bad, and now that KBIM TV is gone one would think they could spare a space or two IF a restaurant came in. I am just amazed that a little cafe or diner can't make it on that corner...IF it had fair prices and good food. But then this is Roswell. I am still chuckling!!!

saw

06-22-2009, 03:59 PM

There is a lot of private parking in downtown that is not being utilized. The city built the plaza parking lot for downtown visitors and now most of it is for private parking for city hall employees.

There is not anything downtown that I go to other than the Winery, Billly Ray's. or Copy Rite.

In years gone by we used to come to downtown Roswell to do our shopping. I have gone out of my way to come to Roswell to go to one of the many good eating places that are now gone.

The city seems to have hit it's peak in about 1995.

mfish

06-22-2009, 05:32 PM

Saw, folks won't walk across a big parking lot to enter a restaurant in Roswell - why would they walk a block or more to do so?
Denny's has always had a parking problem - the only thing that kept it going for the years it was open was the late night crowd - after the bars closed, and the early morning breakfast eaters before the parking spaces downtown on Main filled up with the merchants' personal vehicles.

saw

06-22-2009, 07:11 PM

Fish you are right about parking downtown, I have seen folks here drive around the block three times so that they could park in front of the gym for a workout. It seems like the only people walking downtown are the tourist. Smith Engineering has moved off of main street to Steve Strain's old site so that created more parking near Dennys.

However they will go to the mall or Walmart and walk a quarter of a mile.

There is plenty of parking on main street if you are brave enough to brave the traffic while parking paralleled.

Want to see a pretty nifty downtown, check out Artesia. They have even built a new motel/hotel downtown. (Hotel Artesia)

Rainbow

06-22-2009, 07:23 PM

The parking spaces behind the downtown businesses are always filled with the owners/employees of the businesses and forget the skimpy parking left for shoppers. It cracks me up how people will circle and cirle to get a parking space close to the door and waste time.

I really like the way they are redesigning shopping centers so that instead of the mall idea where you have to enter the mall to enter businesses you enter from the parking lot. Our mall would never make that change but I think malls are a thing of the past and our mall is doomed. But I am getting off topic aren't I???

As for the UFO festival, how in the world will our 50,000 festival attendees find a spot in downtown??? I may have to park at my work and just walk from there. I wonder if any city employees will park elsewhere and offer spaces to the visitors??? (And then I woke up!)

I have never been to Billy Rays...is it worth going??? Oops, off topic again, respond in the restaurant thread!!!

saw

06-28-2009, 12:26 PM

RDR today page C1 "Brian Michaelz, the assistant marketing director for Roswell estimates 50,000 to 75,000 people attend the festival each year and the city accommodates vistors and locals with entertainment, guest speakers, family-friendly activities and more".

The official UFO site is advising visitors that the Holiday Inn has rooms. I checked it out and they indicate that they do for the nites of 7/2 thru 7/5 for a rate of $152.00 per nite. Of course that does not include sales tax and lodgers tax (another $18)

It looks like there are tickets available for the concert at $40.00 or Vip Tickets for $100.00.

Everbody better get on board before that 50,000 to 75,000 folks show up.

kralspaces

06-28-2009, 01:40 PM

AND... COTM also claimed 30,000 attended "God and Country" that same weekend in 2007. Read about it here: http://www.cotmroswell.com/index.cfm/PageID/1388/cfid/151557/cftoken/14ee06393d94408-278A297F-D1E0-FBE0-2BBFFCFE0233A145/index.html. What ever happened to: "Thou shalt not bare false witness"?

You may also notice on that same web page that the City of Roswell partnered with COTM in 2007 for CommUnity Festival to spread the word of the gospel to over 6,000 people on our tax dollar. Excuse me.

I was actually offended by Pastor Troy's paid advertisement “Veterans vs Aliens” in the paper today where he publicly critized the same City of Roswell that supported their CommUnity Festival just a year eariler on our tax dollars.

Where’s BeeBee these days. He should have an explanation for all this tolerance and community support by COTM.

Rainbow

06-28-2009, 06:20 PM

Look out residents...if you look closely at the photo on top of the TalkRoswell page of downtown Roswell, you will see what looks like smoke or dust rising to the sky between Wells Fargo and B of A and some more to the right of Wells Fargo.

It is the dust clouds of the 50,000 to 75,000 people heading here for the UFO festval. Take cover. Get your supplies NOW because we are not going to be able to get gas, eat out, or get down Main Street for several weeks due to the thousands of additional vehicles that should soon be pulling in.

This is a disaster of monumental porportions. Within days Roswell is going to more than double. Grocery shelves will be empty. I expect power black outs and looting in the sreets. (Oh wait...that is a good thing, rid Main Street of those crappy souvenirs!)

Run for your lives while you can..they are almost here!!!!

saw

06-28-2009, 06:41 PM

I doubt that we will have enough water to flush the toilets.

In 1997, the first of the UFO festivals, when we still had our roach coach. The UFO folks came to us and asked that we park it at the county fair grounds because they expected 3000 folks to bring their motor homes, travel trailers, tents, etc. and they would stay at the fairgrounds as well as other RV parks.

They ask that we pay big bucks for this priviledge, we said no, then they said that we could park for 10% of the gross. The first day we took the manager at the fairground $.17. There was couple of tents and that was it.

That was the year when the big boys came to Roswell and showed us Hicks how to be took. They left motel owners holding the bag, They cashed a $100,000.00 hot check at one of the local banks, and sold tickets to concerts that never happen.

mfish

06-29-2009, 05:33 AM

Saw, your recollection of events is not exactly accurate.

mfish

06-29-2009, 07:22 AM

Saw wrote: That was the year when the big boys came to Roswell and showed us Hicks how to be took. They left motel owners holding the bag, They cashed a $100,000.00 hot check at one of the local banks, and sold tickets to concerts that never happen.

Allow me to clarify:

1) There was a discrepancy of several thousand dollars on the motel bill - charges on that bill the promoter did not accrue. Several attempts were made to reconcile that bill - the manager of that property is no longer there - last I heard he was running a little motel in Cloudcroft...

2) There was no $100,000.00 "hot check" cashed. A two party check from the Disney Corporation was left at a local bank for appeasement purposes - one of the employees at that bank took it upon themselves to attempt to cash the check (that employee is no longer at that bank) - which turned out to be counterfeit. The promoter got "took" by the counterfeit check as well. All charges on this accusation were dismissed by a federal judge with prejudice, by the way - and the investigators were admonished for wasting taxpayer's resources chasing this rainbow. I know this because I was in the Albuquerque courtroom when it happened.

3) No tickets were ever sold to concerts that never happened. One promoter never got the funding and sponsorship he was looking for and bailed out completely. But another promoter came in at the last minute, and brought in Paul Rodriguez, who performed, Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels - who performed; and a Beatles tribute band that performed as well. The attendance for the Paul Rodriguez show was very good. The attendance for the two music events was poor - just like most music events held at the Amphitheater.

I was not aware that you were coaxed into providing services at the fairgrounds. I was never in favor of setting up any accomodations there, by the way - it meant a loss of revenue in lodger's tax dollars to do so. I was not surprised there were so few people there, either - it was over 100 degrees that weekend - not great weather for camping.

By all estimates - over 50,000 people showed up in Roswell in 1997. MSNBC did live broadcasts from the civic center square. HUNDREDS of other media were on hand, too. When you compare the attendance for 1997 with all other years, it's safe to say nowhere CLOSE to that number of attendees have been on hand.

saw

06-29-2009, 12:42 PM

The Roswell Inn Motel manager told me that the promoter had reserved a lot of rooms and did not fully pay for all of the rooms. He also told me that other motels had the same problem.

Why was a $100.000.00 check left with bank for appeasement purposes?
I would think that the check would have been cashed and cash would be held for appeasement purposes whatever appeasement purposes was.

I do remember that there was a lot of stink about the concert bit and understood that tickets had been sold but Roswell has a lot of rumors.

CBS news reported 35,000 in attendence last year. I think all of the attendence reports have been Roswell rumors.

I do not have GRT report nor the lodgers tax report from 1997 but I do not remember a crowd of or anywhere close to 50,000 folks and I know all of the motels were not full.

Rainbow

06-29-2009, 03:37 PM

I always appreciate the posts I read with lots of history...even if there are conflicting views or details, I enjoy hearing what you all have to say.

I wasn't here in 1997 but nothing surprises me. My son lived here and I remember him telling me that it was being reported that people were charging and getting hundreds of dollars for renting rooms in their homes because the motels were full. He also told me of the people selling things like bags of crash site dirt and grains of rice with aliens painted on them! He said there were TV vans all over the place and the town was crowded. OK, that was the 50th.

This 50,000 visitor figure keeps popping up, and it seems so ridiculous that I just became so curious about these wild inflated figures. How can anyone believe these numbers when our town could not feed and house that many people?( Maybe if they all stayed in their cars and made sandwiches and pooped along the side of the road.) But I just don't see it.

Just out of curiousity, I did a Google search and entered, "Rose Bowl Parade Attendance Figures" and I found a really interesting LA Times blog regarding false attendance reports at the Rose Bowl Parades over the years. The report actually goes into great detail about false attendance reports at events and how people calculate attendance, etc....

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/readers/2009/01/rose-parade-big.html

I had to chuckle as I read the story because apparently inflated attendance figures are not just a Roswell UFO phenomenom. I even found one from the NY Times going back to 1987. This article hit the nail on the head...it says attendance figures are inflated when there is "public funding invloved". People want to know how many people their money is reaching.

No big surprise that the over inflated numbers for the UFO fest is just a way to justify what is spent and guaranty more money next year. I get it but I prefer honesty.

When all is said and done I will look forward to Saw providing the actual stats on what the UFO festival brings to Roswell in relation to revenue, etc...

mfish

06-29-2009, 07:03 PM

Saw, I don't know anything about the Roswell Inn - it was about to close that year and in fact, did shortly after the UFO Festival. I did have some friends in from out of town that stayed there that year during the festival, however. If ANY motel had rooms reserved for anyone (promoter or otherwise) who bailed on the festival, shame on THEM for holding those rooms without proper deposits.

The motel I refer to was the Sally Port - there were indeed several thousand dollars in descrepancy regarding the billing. Attempts were made to reconcile that several times - but I think Carlos Lovato wanted blood and pushed for criminal prosecution ... didn't quite work out as he had hoped ... in fact, I don't his stint in Cloudcroft has worked out as well as he had hoped, either. Pride can be a dangerous thing.

The check in question was left with the bank in good faith as an account was opened - and the bank was told there might be a problem with the check, so please just hold onto it. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Like I said, an employee (or two) got fired over that brilliant move.

I was very close to this whole ordeal - the promoter who was charged was released into my custody initially, until Carlos and compay got another judge on the deal who handed down a $100,000.00 bail - I'm not sure MURDER in Roswell has $100,000.00 bail ... anyway - after tens of thousands of taxpayers' dollars "investigating" this charade, a court date was set in ALB and that's when the federal judge tossed the whole thing out with an admonishment leveled at the prosecution...

There were MANY RUMORS regarding various concerts and musical acts that had an interest in playing the 50th Festival, Saw. But major sponsors never signed on. I personally had multiple phone calls from everyone like George Clinton and the P Funk Allstars, to Eric Clapton, to Sheryl Crow (who was dating Eric Clapton at the time), to KISS's manager Doc McGhee (who flew into town on a private jet and toured venue options with me). But NO TICKETS were ever sold to any of those concerts, because they never materialized into real deals. RUMORS are a dangerous thing ... especially in Roswell...

Ya know - maybe Roswell just isn't interested or ready for a truly big time event. The small town mentality of the majority of the businesses and residents seems to get in the way making things happen, and then it's always the "Big Boy out-of-towners" that get blamed for the decisions made by the Roswell "business owners," or "Hicks," as you referrred to them - Merle Haggard got run off because of local greed and stupidity, too - and he was prepared to hold an ANNUAL concert in Roswell with assorted guest appearances, much like Willie Nelson's annual bashes - with no cost to the city at all ...you might be more on target with your assessment than you realize ...

saw

06-30-2009, 10:46 AM

I know that we many promoters that year. The story that I got was that the promoter booked about 50-75 rooms and did make a deposit on them and was supposed to pay the balance prior to the festival which never happen. So the Roswell Inn plus other motels was left with vacant rooms that they could have rented. That was the year that everthing was booked up around us for a 120 miles so the folks told us.

I think the Roswell Inn closed 12/31/99. None of my sources can remember for sure. It was my favorite watering hole for many years. If I get a confirmed date, I will post it.

I have always wondered about the business climate here and I will give you just one example.

Roswell's United Way has a tuff time getting a $450,000.00 goal collected while Hobbs will have over $900,000.00 by Christmas in the till. They have always supported the Boy and Girl's Club there.

The businessmen in Hobbs gets behind things and put their money where their mouth is. Just look at the convention center they got not to mention the Racecino.

mfish

06-30-2009, 05:29 PM

I don't remember when exactly the Roswell Inn shut down for good, either - I do know they had an entire wing of rooms that had been cannibalized to keep the others rentable - that would have been the Southeast complex of the property - it was shut off first, and may have been shut off during the '97 Festival ... so I can't sympathize too terribly much over any of their troubles. They were sucking air even then.

mfish

07-01-2009, 06:12 AM

kralspaces

07-01-2009, 08:10 AM

I guess we better resume the dialog about the UFO Festival in this thread instead of the 'Patriots' thread, even though the Festival is taking a strong turn in that direction.

Dress a light pole contest. What a great idea. Only one light pole got dressed for the Festival. If I had known, I would have done a couple of poles. It is an extention of the 4th of July banners down Main Street to make the City look festive for our visitors.

fish and saw, thanks for all the history info.

kralspaces

07-01-2009, 08:16 AM

BTW, has anyone else notice the new name for the Convention Center? It is now the RCVB which stands for: Roswell Convention and Visitors Bureau.

saw

07-01-2009, 10:35 AM

RDR today front page UFO Festival "City of Roswell Marketing Director Renne Roach said she is expecting a terrific turnout for the event. "All our Motels are completly booked and I've got people calling me ever minute wanting to know if anything has open up."

Maybe she should check the UFO website that states that the Holiday Express has rooms and when you check their web site they state that they have rooms and the Candlewood Suites also says that they have rooms (July 2 thru July 5, three nights)

I called the Sally Port and they said they were booked which did not suprise me. I called the Leisure Inn and they said that they had 108 rooms available and had reservation for 24 of them and she also stated that misinformation such as this is hurting their business as well some of the small motels she said that has available rooms. She also stated this has happen for the last two years. Needless to say she was very unhappy.

Andrew just called and said RDR is on it and there will something in the paper tomorrow.

Daisy

07-01-2009, 10:46 AM

You know, I don't know this Renee Roach person, but she must not care anything about the truth or who she hurts by not telling it. As long as she looks good, nothing or no one else matters............apparently. :mad:

chief26

07-01-2009, 02:17 PM

Daisy your trailer on your messages "Integrity...pass it on" can you forward some of that to city hall? They seem to have a blind spot between pride and truth. Maybe an ounce of integrity would go along ways.

Daisy

07-01-2009, 07:06 PM

Yep, chief26, there seems to be a lack of integrity, honesty, morality and ethics here in our city government. For Renee Roach to keep getting away with this stuff is totally unacceptable. When she is hurting Roswell businesses with her lies, just to make herself look good, our government officials should be stepping in and putting a stop to it.

But, apparently, she's someone's favorite flunkie and can actually do harm to our motels' business and get away with it.

It makes me sick to my stomach.............:yucky:

By the way, I've tried forwarding some of my beliefs about integrity to our city councilors and mayor.................they don't even respond to my letters anymore. I think they're embarrassed to have forgotten about honesty and integrity................if not, they should be.

That's my opinion, anyway............:smk3:

saw

07-01-2009, 09:16 PM

The UFO web site at 9 PM July 1 for hotels indicates that rooms are available at the Candlewood Suites, the Hampton Inn and the Holiday Express for July 2 with checkout July 5. (3 Nights)

There is a total of 880 rooms shown on the hotel page. 50,000 folks in 880 rooms. The cheapest rooms for the above motels is plus $150.00 per night plus a booking fee and 12% tax.

saw

07-02-2009, 10:07 AM

Front page RDR "hotel rooms available" three ata-boys for the RDR.

It also appears that instead of a call a minute to Renee there has been about 20 per day. Just when I started feeling sorry for Renee having to stay on the phone all day long :ohwell:

kralspaces

07-03-2009, 09:11 AM

There was a New Zealand film crew on KBIM Round Table this morning to share their 'incident' in 1948 and it was so funny to listen to these guys. I was laughing through the whole interview. One comment that I thought interesting is when they said the UFO Museum would not let then in because of the cameras. Oh well, more international PR gone ‘bad’ by Ms. Julie. They are filming the festival for their TV show and also doing their own research of our ‘incident’. I have got to find these guys this afternoon when I check out all the booths at the RCVB.

Neil

07-03-2009, 10:23 AM

Here's a letter to the editor that probably summarizes the whole attitude regarding the UFO Festival, and most all other things "Roswell:"

http://roswell-record.com/main.asp?SectionID=57&SubSectionID=194&ArticleID=43806&TM=29343.51

Don't you just love it when you go into the post office and the moment you get a fair sized queue one of the few open counters closes :shoot:

saw

07-03-2009, 11:44 AM

I drove thru town at about 10:30 AM and it looks like the 50,000 has not arrived yet. From Third street north there was plenty of parking and the main parking lot at the civic center was full but the west parking lot only had a few cars. I think that the main parking lot holds less than 200 cars. Does anybody know for sure?

It appears they have plenty of tickets left for the big concert. At $40.00 each, I wonder why? You can do the VIP thing for $100.00.

FYI It takes almost ten acres to park 1,000 cars.

Rainbow

07-04-2009, 07:43 AM

I was thinking that it would have been fun to get various Talk Roswell folks to agree to attend certain events just so they can report first hand! Maybe next year.

I went to the convention center around 1 or 2 today. While the lot to the west of the center looked full, I was able to find a spot just one lane from the west entrance. I think there were around 20 cars in the lot farther west along the fence by De Bremond stadium. It started to rain just as I got there and wind was forcing the outside booths to hold tight to their tent poles for awhile. (I like that...i think I will use it, "Hold tight to your tent poles...it is going to be a bumpy ride!")

I enjoyed an ear of roasted corn and then went into the center. I have to say, I was surprised that it was pretty drowded. Not 5,000, 10,000 or 50,000 crowded...but several hundred probably. In that whole crowd I didn't see one person I knew. I don't know if I was avoiding faces because I was a little embarrassed to be there looking at all of the UFO stuff or if my little circle of friends wasn't there.

I know I have never seen it that crowded for any other show or event, or seen that many vendors. You can never have enough over priced jewelry though so good luck to those folks. It looked like they had something for everyone and the face painting booth was full and they were doing a good job. If I was in to dead bugs in frames, I thought that booth had some really creepy stuff for reasonable prices. Unfortunately, many of those bugs show up in my house or yard for free so I didn't buy any. I saw a TV crew running around. The booths with the books and speakers hardly had any people so I hope that group gets some interest.

It took maybe 30-45 minutes to walk and gawk and after a yummy BBQ sausage sandwich i headed off to the Wall that heals. I will report on that later. I am on my way to the parade now!

kralspaces

07-05-2009, 05:45 AM

Who is this mysterious 'city official' that has been referenced for the third time in the RDR this week? http://roswell-record.com/main.asp?SectionID=57&SubSectionID=194&ArticleID=43918&TM=27505.88

The first reference was in Pastor Smothermon's ad, the second time in John Taylor's commentary and now in the above letter to the editor.

Doesn't this 'city official' have a name? Why all the drama?

Rainbow

07-05-2009, 07:47 AM

I agree...Pastor Troy should have said the name initially. If something is true, then don't be afraid to speak the truth. I tend to doubt comments like his when the person speaking is afraid to mention names.

The Pastor's comments were yet another attempt to divide the city over the UFO vs God and Country issue. If that was not his intention then he didn't even need to mention it in his ad. The ad was for the Wall and dinner, and that was all he needed to say. IF a city office contacted him about dividing the city, he could have kept that to himself. Instead he chose to basically slam and shame those who believe in UFO's or choose to participate in the UFO part of the weekend. He clearly stated that THEY, (COTM) choose to honor God & Country...as if those who participate on the UFO events have chosen NOT to honor God & Country and are therefore unpatriotic.

mfish

07-05-2009, 08:17 AM

I missed any reference to "city official" in that letter.
But to answer your question - it could be any number of people - or no one at all.

Rainbow

07-05-2009, 08:24 AM

I guess today is the final day of the UFO festival. I hope others will report here if they participated in any of the events.

I didn't really participate other than my one visit to the convention center. If a person was in the market for souvenirs, this place had them and more. If you wanted a book or to hear a speaker, they had that also. I was there Friday between 1pm and 2pm and the place was crowded. There were a few food vendors outside and what I had was very good. I drove by again around 7:45 and the west side lot was very crowded, with about 1/2 of the dirt parking lot to the far west full. So I suspect the civic center must have been very full before and after the parade.

Unfortunately...I had my wires crossed so I got to the parade too late to see all of it. (I admit I didn't pay attention, but I always thought it was a LIGHT parade, thus it started at dusk!) But what I saw was better than years before. At least cars and walkers made an attempt to dress up or decorate. I guess people just don't have the time, energy or money to build really great floats because I never see any really great floats any more. The winning entry was from El Paso, and it was a last minute idea for them to enter a coffin with a blow up alien in it. (I suspect the coffin is used by them all the time to haul things when they travel because they said they had just driven here that day to check it out.) It is kind of a shame that the #1 winning entry was a spur of the minute entry, no work involved, from out of state!

I wish they could get more financial donations and increase the float awards to perhaps encourage more groups of people to actually create and build some good floats. The prize money should at least cover your costs to built it!

On the topic of parades: Why can't they combine themes and honor Veterans, have the schools involved, bands, and all of the things most towns have for a 4th of July Parade? The aleins can have their space as well...but make it a traditional parade that would be far more exciting. (I personally LOVED the group that was singing a song about "God created Aliens and he loves the Aliens, too...can't we all just get along...")

I only went down Main Street one time around 3pm and it was typical traffic, and a little more than typical people around the UFO museum. It appeared people were mingling around the booths in their lot. (A shame they had to give that parking lot over to vendors, making parking a bit more challenging.) I was not happy to hear from my friends that the UFO museum wanted them to pay the $5 entry fee JUST to go in to the gift shop. If they are worried about people sneaking in to the museum who say they just want to go into the gift shop, then they need to have a separate entrance so people can go to the gift shop without being charged. I have gone into the gift shop many times without paying an antry fee so if they do that during the festival, shame on them.

The only other thing I saw was the fireworks from the view off my patio, and they looked good as always, too bad for the downfall that looked like it put an early end to the finale. Anyone else have experiences to share?

kralspaces

07-05-2009, 09:02 PM

I missed any reference to "city official" in that letter.
But to answer your question - it could be any number of people - or no one at all.

sorry, wrong link: http://roswell-record.com/main.asp?SectionID=57&SubSectionID=194&ArticleID=43916&TM=82801.54

Three separate references all with the same sound bite... they all know who it is.

Rainbow

07-05-2009, 10:22 PM

I don't know Kral, Pastor Troy said it in his ad...but I got the impression John Taylor and the person in the letter to the Editor were just echoing what Troy said. But I don't think they necessarily had first hand knoweldge of the alledged city official and the alledged call. (Unless Troy spoke it to them personally...in which case that would be gossip and I believe gossip would fall under the "thou shalt nots" of his church.)

I know all too well how dangerous things in writing can be, because often when we write, we are hearing our words in our heads one way...but the reader puts their own inflection when reading it and can give it a whole new meaning. I did try to read his ad several ways and every way sounded negative.

I still say that Troy knew exactly what he was trying to do by mentioning it and he was probably thrilled that two other people picked up on it and made mention of it again.

Even if Troy is telling the truth and a city official called to ask him why he was trying to divide the city, I feel that he is doing just that. Every year they plan their own events to duplicate or compete with what the city is doing and his ad made it clear where he stands. He drew his line in the sand. "His people" don't believe in the UFO incident and because they choose to not participate, THEY are more patriotic and God & Country oriented than everyone else.

Edited by Daisy