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. 

The biggest dag gum yard sale of all!

            The South’s not alone is loving to recycle, reuse and re-buy stuff, but we sure have the best massive yard sales.

Photo courtesy of DeKalb Tourism

            In fact, the World’s Longest Yard Sale takes place in the South, this year from Aug. 7 to 10 along a 690-mile route that begins in Gadsden, Alabama, and travels along the Lookout Mountain Parkway into Chattanooga, Tenn., and all the way to Addison, Michigan, along Highway 127.

Fentress Cty Chamber of Commerce

            OK, you got us, it’s not all South, but you know the best part is down here. For instance, the 93-mile Lookout Mountain Parkway has been touted a “Must See” by Reader’s Digest, the National Geographic and Southern Living magazines, and the headquarters for the sale is the Fentress County Chamber of Commerce in Jamestown, Tenn.
            This year (2014) marks the 27th anniversary of the sale, which gets bigger every year. Vendors come from all over, including foreign countries; Alabama tourism folks estimate there will be 1,000 vendors in Alabama alone!
             Vendors are typically up and at ’em by 8 a.m. and sales go late into the summer twilight. Some are locals spilling out their used goods on front lawns, while others are sophisticated antique dealers. In addition, local restaurants and shops offer more great finds.

Photo courtesy of DeKalb Tourism

            The sale began as a way to get tourists off the interstates and along the back roads of Kentucky and Tennessee, which offers beautiful scenery, Civil War history, railroads, music, and so much more. After a few years, the Lookout Mountain Parkway Association asked to be included, and before long, the route was 690 miles long!

            For more information regarding the annual Hwy. 127 Corridor Sale, visit www.127sale.com. Lookout Mountain tourism has a wonderful FYI page as well. For lodging information, directions, road closures and more information in Alabama and Tennessee, visit www.ShopLookoutMountain.com or call DeKalb Tourism at (888) 805-4740 or Greater Gadsden Area Tourism at (888) 565-0411.

Fentress County Chamber of Commerce