Similar to Pie Town, if you know Roswell, you know what to expect at its signature fest. As the rough location of a mysterious 1947 aircraft crash that dominates UFO lore, Roswell is home to the Roswell UFO Festival, a three-day celebration of all things extraterrestrial.
Since 1996, many thousands of beings have landed in town for spacey activities such as laser shows, costume contests, UFOlogist lectures, cosmic car and bike shows, aerial performances, alien bus crawls, drone shows, galaxy fairs, night sky hikes, and a fest-within-a-fest called AlienFest, which promotes downtown-area businesses. 2025’s Roswell UFO Festival is scheduled to run from Friday, July 4, to Sunday, July 6.
New Mexico’s festivals are as weird and wonderful as the rest of its attractions. In remote New Mexican towns, you can find annual celebrations for spicy peppers, Cajun culture, historical/mythical figures, shovel races, pies, and unidentified flying objects. Visit Hatch, Red River, Edgewood, Taos, Pie Town, and Roswell for such unique fests. But between chomping chiles, playing a pirate, and sliding down a mountain on a shovel, check out the other oddities in and around the towns.