Roswell’s recent UFO Festival brought over $2M in spending

ROSWELL, N.M. (AP) — Roswell officials say the city’s UFO Festival had an economic impact of more than $2 million.

The Roswell Daily Record reports the Roswell City Council’s finance committee looked earlier this month at an economic report for the event.

It indicated more than 40,000 visitors came to the four-day festival, which ran June 30-July 3.

The cost for the city to mount it was more than $200,000. Officials applauded the results as a “10 to 1 return on your money.”

Staff who put together the report reviewed gross receipts taxes, occupancy or lodgers’ tax, ticket sales and other factors. They also analyzed data from trash collection to estimate the number of visitors.

This year’s festival marked the 75th anniversary of the alleged Roswell Incident. Something crashed at what was then the J.B. Foster ranch in 1947, with the U.S. Army announcing it had recovered a “flying disc” but later saying the debris was merely the remnants of a high-altitude weather balloon.

Speculation about extraterrestrials and government cover-ups has existed ever since, inspiring books, movies and TV shows.

The milestone anniversary brought various businesses and groups together to organize 34 events for the UFO Festival.