If you love big-headed green aliens with emaciated bodies then you’ve landed in the right spot. Roswell, New Mexico embraces all things extraterrestrial and welcomes others who share the same passion for space oddities.
As far as I know there is no place in the world that is home to a McDonald’s that mimics a UFO. No other place in the U.S. where a wall of Wal-Mart displays a massive portrait of a green spaceman. And I don’t know of a single other Arby’s restaurant in America that plasters the words: “Aliens Welcome,” on a big sign out front during what is arguably the largest UFO festival on the planet.
Roswell draws thousands of UFO enthusiasts to the annual festival each year. And a couple of residents want to add to the aforementioned themed restaurants and stores in an effort to draw even more people to the area.
The businessmen want to build Earth Station Roswell, a $67 million resort and conference center for UFO enthusiasts. Their dream is for the center to include a 1,000-seat concert center, an exhibit hall, fine-dining restaurant, cafe, deli, lounge, a 400-seat theater and lecture hall, an RV shop, lagoon-style swimming pool and a massive underground parking garage. But, that’s not all. They also want the anchor to be the “Mothership,” a 75-foot high, 300-room hotel that some are calling “the world’s largest replica of a flying saucer.”
The city already has an International UFO Museum and Research Center, and some question how much Roswell should exploit its little alien friends? By all accounts the museum does very well. Each month, it greets visitors from all 50 states and 35 countries. According to museum staff, more than 2.5 million tourist have taken a tour of the facility since its founding. According to one analysis, it generates $35 million in indirect spending each year for the city of 50,000 residents. That said the museum has outgrown its current home (what used to be a former movie theater) and soon will occupy a new $25 million building.
In you have never been to Roswell, know this–there are aliens everywhere. They’re on T-shirts, postcards, pants, refrigerator magnets, collectible rocks, socks and key chains. You can buy alien paraphernalia at corner stores, major retailers, gift boutiques and even an Army-themed restaurant, “Where all the recipes are secret.” And my personal favorite: on one downtown sidewalk, green, two-toed footprints lead visitors a half-block from Main Street to the Roswell Space Center.
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