The truth is out there…in Alabama

Note: This post originally was published in 2017. It has been updated to include this year's festival.

On Feb. 11-12, 1989, more than 50 people, including the chief of police, reported seeing odd objects flying over the small community of Fyffe in northeastern Alabama. The rash of UFO sightings, and the thousands of people who arrived looking for UFOs, resulted in the town being named the UFO Capital of the World. Not to be outdone, the state later proclaimed it the UFO Capital of Alabama.

On Saturday, Aug. 24, 2019, the annual Fyffe UFO Day Festival will kick into gear. Visitors may not spot little green men flying around in saucers — or maybe they will! —but there will definitely be hot air balloons, arts and crafts, children’s games, 5K run, antique car and tractor show and food vendors.  

Photos courtesy

DeKalb Tourism

Headlining this year's event is David Ball, whose hit records stretch from the late 80s to 2004. Also scheduled to perform are The Sharps, Steel City Revival and Willie Underwood and Family.

Gates open at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Fyffe Town Park on Graves Street, but the hot air balloons take flight around 6 a.m. Tethered rides are offered for the public around 6 p.m. and hot air balloon rides across the Sand Mountain will be available, weather permitting. For information, visit www.ballooningal.com.

Registration for the 5K begins at 7 a.m. with the race beginning at 8 a.m. at Fyffe First Baptist Church. For more information, click here.

Parking and admission are free and visitors are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and picnic blankets. For more information on UFO Day Festival, call DeKalb Tourism at (888) 805-4740 or visit www.VisitLookoutMountain.com.

Want to know more about that rash of UFO sightings in 1989 and a few Alabama UFO reports preceding Fyffe’s encounters? Click here.

Here’s something fun (or maybe weird), a commercial aimed at keeping teenagers from driving and drinking using Fyffe and its UFO reputation as a backdrop.

Cheré Coen is a food and travel writer who loves weird and unusual things.