Tag: Connie West

A Year Later, ‘Storm Area 51’ Still Affects Nevada Town

Article by Christopher Lawrence                                   September 18, 2020                                    (reviewjournal.com)

• September 20th marked the first anniversary of the ‘Storm Area 51’ Facebook event when over two million people responded to a college student’s ‘late-night goof’, and pledged to storm Area 51 to “see them aliens.” Leading up to the event, the world was obsessed with how many people would descend on a tiny town called Rachel, Nevada – 50 miles from anywhere – and what they’d do when they got there.

• The event was thrown into disarray just days before when the young man who coined the phrase “Storm Area 51” severed ties with it. Plans to “storm” the nearby gate at the secretive military facility morphed into a music and arts festival dubbed ‘Alienstock’ for the 2000 or so people who were curious enough to show up.

• As the proprietor of the only business in Rachel, Connie West and her Little A’Le’Inn restaurant and hotel were thrust into the international spotlight. “I’m still not unwound from it,” West says of that wild summer that found media from around the world wandering into her small cafe, “because I have to deal with the aftermath of it every day.” “In this last year (with COVID), we’ve been hit so hard, we’re barely treading water.”

• As a result of this random Facebook meme, Lincoln County, Nevada is out $200,000; two small-business owners lost a combined $250,000; litigation involving the meme’s creator is pending; and Rachel has become divided, with many of its residents no longer speaking to one another. “I’ve known these people for a long, long time,” said West. “Alienstock made me see some ugly in people that I never thought were that deep and ugly, right here in my community.” West estimates the event cost her $200,000, and that tab keeps climbing because of the legal bills. She’s due in court again in late February.

• None of that deterred West from attempting to host another festival in 2020, which was canceled due to the pandemic. “I put a hell of a lot of work into it,” said West. “I had some awesome sponsors.” Those sponsors seem willing to work with her again when it is deemed safe, in 2021 or 2022. “All year, people have reached out to me,” West says. “They want this to happen again.”

• Rachel resident Joerg Arnu says that “The event… deeply divided our town into two camps.” One group backs West and her plans. Arnu leads the other group who wishes that West would just throw in the towel. “There’s a lot of animosity all of a sudden,” says Arnu. “Rachel was a very friendly town, where everybody knew everybody, everybody greeted everybody, waved at everybody. Now it’s come down to the exact opposite. Nobody even wants to talk to anyone anymore.”

• Since the Alienstock festival, Arnu says he’s been harassed, had strangers trespass on his property and has been photographed inside his home via long lenses. He complains of tourists driving through the residential areas of Rachel, and he has reinstalled the security lighting he bought last summer. “Our town that was a very peaceful and quiet place, and friendly place, has changed. I don’t know if it will ever mend, if it will ever go back to how it was,” says Arnu. “I will fight another Alienstock with everything I have.”

• Aside from the town of Rachel, the ‘Area 51 Basecamp’ at the Alien Research Center in Hiko, Nevada also had grand ambitions. British DJ Paul Oakenfold was so excited about the event that he flew from England on his private jet to perform for free on opening night at the center. But so few festival-goers showed up, plans were scrapped and tickets were refunded.

• “I don’t think we have anything to be embarrassed about,” says George Harris, the owner of the Alien Research Center. “And, by the way, I lost a lot of money, because I really thought there was going to be about 25,000 or 30,000 people, so we prepared for a lot.” Instead, 8,500 people stopped by over the course of a couple of days. That discrepancy cost him $42,000, and Harris says it will take him four or five years to pay off the bank loan. But the Alien Research Center was busier than normal for the next several weeks, and Harris says visitors still can’t get enough of his “I Stormed Area 51” merchandise. Like West, he plans to do it again.

• Eric Holt had been Lincoln County’s emergency manager for 18 months when calls started pouring in about ‘Storm Area 51’. A predicted number of 100,000 people coming to Lincoln County was a logistical nightmare in a rugged environment with almost no infrastructure. “We spent a month and a half straight just dedicating all of our resources to planning efforts for this,” Holt recalls. Even the 6,000 people who showed up for the event was “still kind of unheard of for up here” where there are only about fifty permanent residents. Holt says the county’s final costs for that weekend topped $200,000, and that was only because several other agencies offered their services at no charge. “[I]t would have been over $1 million easy.” Holt says that, between the event and the pandemic, it could take years for the full economic impact to be felt. Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak has indicated that help from Carson City isn’t likely.

• The idea to storm Area 51 at 3 a.m. Sept. 20 was born out of late-night boredom as the 20 year old college student Matty Roberts played World of Warcraft while scrolling through Facebook and watching self-proclaimed Area 51 whistleblower Bob Lazar on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Then he watched as the Facebook challenge went viral all over the world. “I was just like, ‘Oh man, the FBI’s going to show up.’ And they did. And I’m pretty sure I’m still on a watchlist.”

• Now, a year later Roberts lives in Bakersfield, California working in a vape shop, waiting for his ‘in person’ college classes to resume, and hoping one day to become an electrician. “It almost feels kind of like a wild fever dream in a way,’ says Roberts. “But I lived that. And that’s kind of bonkers to me. That’s a story not a whole lot of people can tell. I kind of wanna write a book.”

• After he pulled out of the Rachel event, Roberts ended up hosting a party September 19th at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, which served as a launch for Bud Light’s limited-edition Area 51-themed beer. Similar parties were planned in Vegas for this summer, including escape rooms and obstacle courses, and a tour of the East Coast. But COVID-19 stopped all of it in its tracks. “I’ve had quite a few people that kind of mentioned that they thought I made millions from this thing,” says Roberts. But in reality, he only sold a few t-shirts.

• Roberts’ legal rights to the term ‘Alienstock’ are part of the legal dispute with Connie West. But would he do the whole thing again some day? “Absolutely. I mean, if we can, I would love to,” Roberts says. “I think whenever it is, and if it is safe to gather again, I’d really like to kind of just keep pursuing the dream.”

 

                        Joerg Arnu

It seems closer to a generation ago than 12 measly months.

Long before the 2020-ness of life began pulverizing us on a daily basis — back when the biggest thing many of us were concerned about was whether we’d ever get our hands on one of those Popeyes chicken sandwiches — the world was obsessed with how many people would descend on a tiny blip on the Nevada map, 50 miles from anywhere, called Rachel and what they might do when they got there.

Sunday marks the first anniversary of the day on which more than 2 million Facebook users, responding to a college student’s late-night goof, had pledged to storm Area 51 to “see them aliens.”

           George Harris

As a result of that random joke, Lincoln County is out $200,000, two small-business owners lost a combined

                      Connie West

$250,000, litigation is pending and Rachel has become divided, with many of its residents — all of whom could safely gather without violating the state’s 50-person coronavirus guidelines — no longer speaking to one another.

‘I’m still not unwound’

“In this last year, we’ve been hit so hard, we’re barely treading water,” Connie West says.

As the proprietor of the only business in Rachel, the nearest thing

                      Matty Roberts

resembling a town to Area 51, she and her Little A’Le’Inn were thrust into the international spotlight in July 2019 as that Facebook prank went viral.

Plans to breach the nearby gate of the secretive military facility morphed into an ambitious music and

                          Eric Holt

arts festival dubbed Alienstock. The event was thrown into disarray days before, on Sept. 9, when the man who coined the phrase “Storm Area 51” severed ties with it. The resulting four-day festival, put together at the last minute, offered the couple of thousand people curious enough to attend more of a DIY vibe.

“I’m still not unwound from it,” West says of that wild summer that found media from around the world wandering into her small cafe, “because I have to deal with the aftermath of it every day.”

That aftermath includes a lawsuit and countersuit involving the meme’s creator and his team, as well as the wrath of some members of her once-close-knit group of neighbors who remain angry with the way things played out.

“I’ve known these people for a long, long time. … Alienstock made me see some ugly in people that I never thought were that deep and ugly, right here in my community.”

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Alienstock Festival Returns to Rachel in September

 

Article by Mick Akers                             February 17, 2020                              (reviewjournal.com)

• Last year, college student Matty Roberts created a Facebook meme to “storm the gate” of the secretive Air Force base known as Area 51 to “see them aliens.” The Alien Research Center in Hiko, Nevada and the ‘Little A’Le’Inn’ restaurant and hotel in Rachel, Nevada served as base camps for the 3,000 festivalgoers who actually attended what became “Alienstock”, a high-spirited festival of space alien enthusiasts featuring various musical acts, food vendors and activities.

• Lincoln County law enforcement anticipated a crowd of up to 30,000 people last year, and requested emergency funds to handle the expected crowds. As it turned out, the festival went off without a major incident. On the appointed day, September 20th, around 100 people showed up at the back gate of Area 51, chanted, and had fun with the law enforcement officials. A total of six arrests were made at the two Area 51 gates over the four-day event – five for trespassing and one for indecent exposure after a Canadian man urinated on the gate.

• Little A’Le’Inn owner Connie West was so pleased with the outcome of last year’s festival, she remarked that she would like to hold another Alienstock event in 2020. On the Little A’Le’Inn website, West has announced the dates for this year’s Alienstock – September 10-12.

• Citing safety and infrastructure concerns, the meme’s creator, Roberts, pulled out of the event last year. Roberts went on to host an alien-themed party in downtown Las Vegas. Roberts and his group, Hidden Sound LLC, are now in a legal battle with the Little A’Le’Inn owner, Connie West, for the rights to the ‘Alienstock’ name. The case is pending in the District Court.

• This year, Lincoln County commissioners have pre-signed a declaration of emergency for around $200,000 from the state of Nevada to help cover the costs of overseeing the alien-themed festival. But Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak says he doesn’t know why the state would have to bail the county when it approved the events. Still, Lincoln County commissioners have agreed to hear Connie West’s proposal for another Alienstock festival in a future commissioners meeting.

• Lincoln County emergency manager Eric Holt said that “Permits last year were approved in an effort to give order to the chaos and assist in the planning of such an unknown event.” But this year, some commissioners “have voiced their concerns with it and have requested a resolution in non-support of an Area 51 event that would require any support or response on behalf of Lincoln County.”

• Holt says that Lincoln County is not looking to provide an annual response to this event, similar to what Clark County (ie: Las Vegas) does on New Year’s Eve. “[A]ny future events would have to be self-supporting with no burden placed on the county.”

 

            Matty Roberts

After attracting thousands of extraterrestrial fans from around the world to a rural Nevada desert town, Alienstock

                             Eric Holt

organizers are preparing for a second go round.

Owners of restaurant and motel the Little A’Le’Inn in Rachel announced the dates for Alienstock 2020, listing the second annual festival will take place Sept. 10-12 on its website.

Last year’s event was created after a viral Facebook meme to storm the gate of the secretive Air Force base commonly known as Area 51 — long rumored to house extraterrestrial technology — to “see them aliens.” The Area 51 Basecamp event at the Alien Research Center in Hiko was also created in response to the attention the meme received.

The meme’s creator, college student Matty Roberts, initially signed on to be part of the Alienstock event, before pulling out, citing safety and infrastructure concerns. Roberts went on to host an alien-themed party in downtown Las Vegas.

Roberts and his group Hidden Sound LLC and Little A’Le’Inn owner Connie West are now in a legal battle for the

         Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak
                       Connie West

Alienstock name.

Their case is slated to be heard in a bench trial in District Court beginning next February, according to court records.

On the final day of Alienstock 2019, West mentioned her desire to hold the event again and said she already had someone book a room at the Little A’Le’Inn for the event.

 

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Area 51 Festival Wraps Up in Nevada; Earthlings Head Home

Article by Associated Press                   September 22, 2019                    (latimes.com)

• Although more than 2 million Facebook users clicked their interest, and local officials anticipated a crowd of at least 30,000, only about 3,000 people made the trip to the small desert city Rachel, Nevada to “Storm Area 51”. Authorities said no more than 1,000 people visited Area 51 gates near Rachel on Thursday and Friday. No one was arrested there.

• Visitors hailed from France, Russia, Germany, Peru, Sweden, Australia and many U.S. states. A few hundred more camped and attended one night of an abbreviated music festival about 40 miles away in Hiko, Nevada. “It seems like a lot of good people chilling and having a good time,” observed Dave Wells, a 56-year-old stonemason from Cincinnati wearing a Day-Glo green festival T-shirt and taking in the scene Saturday in Rachel.

• Connie West, proprietor of the Little A’Le’Inn at the epicenter of the Alienstock event, said “[W]e found peace and friendship” as campers packed up to leave and volunteers began cleaning up. West wants to do it again next year. “As well as it turned out? Why the heck not?” she said. At a festival clinic in Rachel, one man was treated for dehydration, and one woman was treated for a drug-related issue.

• The “Area 51 Basecamp” at the Alien Research Center souvenir shop in Hiko, didn’t fare as well. Organizers pulled the plug Saturday on a second concert after drawing only about 500 ticket-buyers for a Friday show. Preparations had been made for up to 5,000.

• Sheriff Kerry Lee said he watched about 20 people feign a rush before dawn Saturday toward a base gate outside Rachel, before stopping short. In Lincoln County, six people were arrested for misdemeanors, mostly trespassing beneath the floodlights and cameras of two military base gates and the watchful eyes of sheriff’s deputies.

• Officials had feared unruly crowds would overwhelm water, electricity, food, fuel, internet and telephone service in a county with just 5,200 people covering an area the size of Massachusetts. “I’m going to call it a success from our end. It’s because we got out in front of it,” said Varlin Higbee, a Lincoln County commissioner who signed an emergency declaration to allocate $250,000 in emergency funds. Higbee said they might sue to recoup costs.

• Matty Roberts, a 20-year-old from Bakersfield, Calif., made the Facebook post to Storm Area 51 as a hoax, then promoted it, then broke away from the event just weeks before. Roberts hosted a Thursday evening event at an outdoor venue in downtown Las Vegas, also using the “Alienstock” name. He said he wants to trademark the name and take it on tour to reach people who couldn’t travel to Nevada. “That’s pretty much the plan for me,” Roberts said. “It’s been a ton of fun.”

 

HIKO, Nev. — The festivals are over and Earthlings from around the globe headed home Sunday after a weekend camping and partying in the dusty Nevada desert and trekking to remote gates of Area 51, a formerly top-secret U.S. military base long the focus of UFO and space alien lore.

They left in peace, officials and the host of a free “Alienstock” festival said Sunday.

Visitors hailed from France, Russia, Germany, Peru, Sweden, Australia and many U.S. states — many toting cameras — in answer to an internet post in June suggesting that if enough people rushed a military base to “see them aliens” at 3 a.m. Sept. 20, authorities couldn’t stop everyone.

More than 2 million Facebook users clicked their interest, but in the end only a few thousand made the trip to the tiny Nevada desert city of Rachel, population about 50, more than two hours north of Las Vegas by car.

Campers and festival-goers in Rachel peaked at about 3,000 on Friday, said Eric Holt, the Lincoln County official who headed planning for a feared influx of at least 30,000.

A few hundred more camped and attended one night of an abbreviated festival about 40 miles away in Hiko, population 120.

“It seems like a lot of good people chilling and having a good time,” observed Dave Wells, a 56-year-old stonemason and festivals-seeker from Cincinnati wearing a Day-Glo green festival T-shirt and taking in the scene Saturday in Rachel.

Did anyone find actual extraterrestrials or UFOs? (As if anyone could really tell among the masked and costumed beings posing for photos and cavorting in the desert.)

“We didn’t,” said Little A’Le’Inn owner-turned-“Alienstock” festival host Connie West, proprietor of the 10-room motel and cafe that became the center of the extraterrestrial-seeking universe.

“But we found peace. And friendship,” she said Sunday as campers packed up to leave and volunteers began cleaning up.

4:45 minute video of people interviewed at Storm Area 51 event (Fox News YouTube)


10:16 minute video of the Storm Area 51 event (‘Explore With Us’ YouTube)

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‘Storm Area 51’ Creator Pulls Out of His Own Event, Calling it Fyre Festival 2.0

Article by Hannah Knowles                    September 10, 2019                     (washingtonpost.com)

• When “Storm Area 51 – They Can’t Stop All of Us” post got over 2 million Facebook responses, the original organizer, 21 year-old Matty Roberts (pictured above), turned it into a music festival in neighboring Lincoln County, Nevada called “Alienstock” for September 20-22nd. Then Frank DiMaggio stepped up to plan a competing music festival in nearby Nye County called “Peacestock 51”.

• But Nye County denied a permit for the Peacestock 51 event. So DiMaggio partnered with Roberts to make Alienstock, centered in Rachel, Nevada, a success. Although the county asked for state emergency support to accommodate the potentially hundreds of thousands of people, the organizers assured the public that this would not be another Fyre Festival (the May 2017 Bahamas festival that left visitors stranded and led to a fraud conviction for the organizer).

• When DiMaggio arrived in Rachel to meet with the third organizing partner, Connie West, the owner of the ‘Little A’Le’Inn’ in Rachel, he quickly deemed the event ‘beyond help’. DiMaggio says that West, who was handling most of the logistics for the event, became increasingly evasive about her preparations. West, in turn, accused DiMaggio and Roberts of betraying her after she’s confirmed the musical performers, paid for security and medical services, and sold 2,400 campsites. Other preparations include 130 portable toilets and additional police officers to support more than 250 first responders from state and local government.

• But DiMaggio and Roberts say they have seen no proof of any preparations made by West. Says Roberts, “There’s no safety or security that can really be promised.” Calling the event a potential “humanitarian disaster,” Roberts has pulled his name and support from the event.

• West still plans to go ahead with the event in Rachel. In a tearful interview with Action 13 News, West said Alienstock is still on. But the townspeople in Rachel are not surprised at the falling out. They have been dubious about the Storm Area 51 phenomenon from the start. The town’s website declares, in red lettering, the outcome was “just as we had predicted.”

• Roberts believes that anyone going to Rachel will find a “pretty sad affair with no bands, very little infrastructure and a lot of unhappy campers.” But if people do want to come to Nevada for a gathering, Roberts suggests that they go to Las Vegas for an “Area 51 Celebration” that is scheduled at a downtown events center for September 19th. Roberts himself may even attend the Las Vegas affair.

 

When the college student behind the online sensation “Storm Area 51” announced plans for an alien festival out in the Nevada desert, organizers tried to fend off worries that thousands of people would overwhelm the resources of a tiny town without a store or gas station.

Or, as they put it to The Washington Post: This is not Fyre Festival 2.0.

But that was before a public falling-out between organizers made the weird story of the Area 51 craze even weirder, months after the meteoric rise of a joke Facebook event that got more than 2 million to say they’d raid a secretive Air Force base for rumored extraterrestrials. Dueling accusations of dishonesty and sabotage have derailed “Alienstock” — a Woodstock for alien watchers — which creator Matty Roberts promoted as alternative programming to any plans to storm the base on Sept. 20 despite officials’ warnings.

                           Connie West

With just over a week to go until the event, Roberts and the host town’s website are both comparing Alienstock to the Fyre Festival, which was supposed to be held in April and May of 2017 in the Bahamas but became synonymous with “epic failure” and led to a fraud conviction. Roberts has pulled his name and support from the three-day gathering in Rachel, Nev., but the owner of a motel in the town who had signed up as a partner plans to go ahead.

“There’s no safety or security that can really be promised,” Roberts told The Post on Tuesday, calling the event a potential “humanitarian disaster.” “I didn’t feel comfortable with inviting even my friends and family out to this event, let alone these thousands of strangers.”

For Roberts, it all fell apart unexpectedly. But the town of Rachel — where residents were reportedly less than pleased with the “Storm Area 51” media swarm — has expressed less surprise.

The outcome was “just as we had predicted,” the town’s website declares in red lettering. Officials in two counties prepared earlier to declare emergencies, unsure how many people might descend on rural Nevada.

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Festivals Planned for Nevada Towns Near Area 51 Get the Final Local OK

Article by Ken Ritter                      September 4, 2019                        (time.com)

• People in the small rural areas of Lincoln County and neighboring Nye County in Nevada are bracing for hundreds of thousands of visitor to the “Alienstock” music festival September 20-22 near Area 51. Both Lincoln and Nye counties have prepared emergency declarations to seek state help if needed. The impromptu festival began with the Facebook posting to ‘Storm Area 51’ to which over 2 million people responded.

• Lincoln County commissioners adopted a plan for a 5,000 person music festival in the town of Hiko, and 10,000 people in the town of Rachel. But the possibility of unmanageable crowds looms large. Nye County Commissioners denied any festival permits for what organizers were calling “Peacestock 51”.

• Despite the restrictions imposed by county commissioners, event organizers urged the counties and the state of Nevada to ensure that there will be enough food, water and entertainment on hand to help people survive in the desert, three-hours drive north from Las Vegas. Most concede that cellphone service will be overwhelmed.

• George Harris plans to repurpose his Alien Research Center gift shop into a music venue off of the road dubbed the ‘Extraterrestrial Highway’. Said Harris, “We’ll give people something to do so they don’t run amok.” Portable toilets, water, food, trash bins and security staff will be trucked in.

• Connie West, the owner of the Little A’le’Inn motel in Rachel, said she plans to collect parking fees to pay for security and medical personnel, and turn away people who bring guns or drugs. West told reporters outside Lincoln County Courthouse, “I’m elated and shaking inside”.

• The event organizers and business owners in the Nevada counties agree that they don’t want people to trespass on Area 51. People will be arrested if they approach Area 51’s gates. Lincoln County Sheriff Kerry Lee said that more than 150 law enforcement officers would be on hand during the events. Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak promised that Nevada Guard units would be available for logistical help.

• Commissioner Keith Pearson remarked, “It could be ugly or it could be decent.” Commissioner Bevan Lister concluded, “The biggest thing is, people just have to be respectful and everyone will have a good time.”

 

PIOCHE, Nev. (AP) — A rural Nevada county approved strict guidelines Tuesday for a pair of festivals later this month in a desolate desert area well-known by UFO and alien hunters.

Lincoln County commissioners took the action amid concern about the possibility of unmanageable crowds attracted by an internet hoax dubbed “Storm Area 51” involving the nearby military installation that has been the focus of UFO conspiracy theories.

Matty Roberts, Facebook originator of “Storm Area 51”

The plan adopted by the commission involves a music festival for 5,000 people in tiny Hiko, and projections by Connie West, owner of the Little A’le’Inn motel in Rachel for as many as 10,000 people camping on her property for another event in the town closest to Area 51.

Event organizers said there needs to be food, water and entertainment on hand to help people survive in the desert that’s a nearly three-hour drive from Las Vegas. Most conceded that cellphone service could be overwhelmed.

“We’ll give people something to do so they don’t run amok,” said George Harris, who plans to repurpose his Alien Research Center gift shop into a music venue off a road dubbed Extraterrestrial Highway.

West said she has 700 camping reservations so far, and will allow eight people per campsite. She also plans to collect parking fees to pay for security and medical personnel, and turn away people who bring guns or drugs to her event dubbed “Alienstock.”

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He Got 2 Million People to Say They’d Storm Area 51. Now He’s Planning an Alien Festival.

Listen to “E73 8-21-19 He Got 2 Million People to Say They’d Storm Area 51. Now He’s Planning an Alien Festival.” on Spreaker.
Article by Hannah Knowles                  August 12, 2019                      (washingtonpost.com)

• Mathew Roberts sounded a call to “Storm Area 51” in Nevada, as a joke. Then 2 million people signed on to the Facebook event, the Air Force warned people not to raid a military base, and things got out of hand. So now, he and Arkansas college student Brock Daily are turning the entire September 20th event into a three-day festival called “Alien Stock”.

• Alien Stock is expected to attract anywhere from 5,000 to 30,000 people to the small town of Rachel 65 miles east of Area 51, and a couple of hours drive north from Las Vegas on the Extraterrestrial Highway. The festival promises surprise performances, art installations and camping. It is also expected to overwhelm a tiny town already overrun by media attention.

• Connie West, co-owner of the ‘Little A’Le’Inn’ in Rachel says, “Of course it’s scary… But I’m excited… How can I not be?” Rachel has long embraced the rumors of hidden aliens and their spacecraft. An anonymous business owner in Rachel wasn’t as excited. “We live in a quiet little place because we like it quiet,” she said. A notice on the town’s website warns festival-goers: “There is no gas and no store. … We expect cell service and the Internet to be offline… Credit card [processing] will not work, so bring enough cash.”

• Daily and Roberts are working to make sure that people who show up will have access to basics such as water, bathrooms and space. Daily notes that Alien Stock is not looking to make a profit. It isn’t charging entrance fees, although attendees will have to rent a parking spot or campsite. They are taking donations however.

• Alien Stock bills itself as “a meeting place for all the believers” — or at least those intrigued by the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Most details on the entertainment have yet to be released. Roberts told a California news station that he wants the event to be “positive, enjoyable, safe and profitable for the rural area of Nevada.

 

The call to raid an Air Force base for aliens was a joke, drawing on decades of conspiracy theories.
Then 2 million people signed on to the Facebook event.

Authorities warned against any attempt to enter the base. And now, unless plans go awry, hordes of strangers will, indeed, gather in the Nevada desert next month near a secretive government facility called Area 51.

The man who created the Internet sensation, Storm Area 51 — They Can’t Stop All of Us, is planning a real-life festival called Alien Stock near the remote base within the Nevada Test and Training Range, a couple hours’ drive northwest of Las Vegas. The three-day festival set to start Sept. 20, a celebration of aliens that promises surprise performances, art installations and camping, is expected to pack a tiny town already overrun by media attention and a spike in extraterrestrial enthusiasm.

With just over a month left to plan and some residents reportedly less than thrilled about the attention, the organizers are focused on the logistics of bringing thousands to a town of 54 people, as counted in the last Census. They’re fending off suggestions they could be planning the next Fyre Festival, the 2017 event that fell apart spectacularly and led to fraud charges.

And the Internet frenzy over Storm Area 51 has thrust Rachel, Nev., into a new limelight and tested residents’ patience.
“Of course it’s scary,” said Connie West, whose alien-themed inn declares on its website that it is “BOOKED SOLID FOR ALIEN-STOCK.” “But I’m excited,” she told The Washington Post. “How can I not be?”

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Communities Near Area 51 Brace for Influx of UFO Tourists

Listen to “E57 8-8-19 Communities Near Area 51 Brace for Influx” on Spreaker.

Article by Anita Hassan                        July 27, 2019                        (nbcnews.com)

• A Facebook event entitled “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us” has created an internet frenzy. To date, almost 2 million people have RSVP’d for the September 20th gathering. The event’s organizer, Matty Roberts, claims it was a hoax. The Air Force has warned against anyone breaking into the property at the Nevada Test and Training Range, Nellis Air Force Base, commonly known as Area 51.

• Vern Holaday, 59, owns the Alamo Inn in Alamo, Nevada, north of Las Vegas. Holaday recalls that in the fall of 2009, his hotel hosted an annual UFO conference, and the secretive goings on at Area 51- about 35 miles to the west of Alamo – inevitably came up. A man from Ohio suggested that they storm Area 51 on motorcycles to outrun the military guards. Nothing ever came of it.

• Tourism from extraterrestrial enthusiasts began to boom in 1989 when an Area 51 engineer by the name of Bob Lazar told a Las Vegas television station that he’d worked on extraterrestrial aircraft at the facility. Since then, business owners and residents have welcomed tourists hoping to get a peek at the military facility or spot a UFO in the sky.

• When Holaday heard about the recent Facebook event, “All I thought was, ‘Here we go again.” Holaday has only two rooms still available for the event. Other local motel and campground owners are receiving scores of calls every day. Many are excited for the potential business. Some, though, are concerned about the lack of infrastructure to accommodate the potential crowds.

• “This is the most overwhelmed I’ve ever felt in my entire life,” said Connie West, co-owner of the motel, bar and restaurant called Little A’Le’Inn, located in a small town called Rachel on State Route 375, named the “Extraterrestrial Highway”, about 50 miles northwest from Alamo. She has been inundated with calls about everything from room bookings to bands that want to play on her property during the event. Like Holaday, she’s heard the conspiracy theorists’ talk of invading Area 51 for years, but nothing of this magnitude. “It’s a frenzy,” she said.

• The Little A’Le’Inn being the only bar within 100 miles, Connie West is stocking up on food and alcohol, as well as t-shirts, mugs and other novelty items for the gift shop. West is also in the process of clearing more land to make room for campers. Says West, “… conspiracy theorists, UFO believers and astronomy buffs… All are welcome.”

• But West is concerned about people getting hurt or arrested trying to make their way to Area 51. Some have speculated that local law enforcement will shut down roads leading to the military facility to prevent anyone from getting close. Lincoln County Sheriff Kerry Lee said he could not discuss the details, but that the agency was prepared. Nellis Air Force Base said in a statement that “any attempt to illegally access the area is highly discouraged.”

• Misty Ingram, who works at the Alien Research Center novelty shop about 40 miles south of Rachel, said she hasn’t been able to keep t-shirts on the rack in the last few weeks. The best-selling items are the black T-shirts with red and white lettering that read: “Area 51, Groom Lake Research Facility S-4, WARNING, restricted area, use of deadly force authorized.” Ingram says, “I think it’s ridiculous that anyone thinks they are going to get into Area 51.” Ingram believes the event will morph into more of a makeshift festival than a raid.

• One night a while back, Holaday and some UFO-seeking guests drove down the Extraterrestrial Highway into Tikaboo Valley to a black mailbox in a dusty lot on the side of the road. Holaday said the mailbox belonged to a local rancher, but somehow over the years many came to believe it was a spot where aliens communicated with humans. Although the mailbox has been replaced since then, on a recent visit it was still stuffed with hand-scrawled notes, including one that read, “Dear Aliens, please take Donald Trump.”

 

ALAMO, Nev. — The first time Vern Holaday heard people talk about trying to storm Area 51, he was sitting around a campfire with about a dozen UFO enthusiasts outside the motel he owns in Alamo.

It was the fall of 2009, and the 15-room Alamo Inn was hosting an annual UFO conference. As it usually did, the conversation turned from alien life forms to conspiracy theories about Area 51 — the secretive military facility about 35 miles west of Alamo.

That night, a man from Idaho, who worked on motorcycles for a living, suggested to the others around the campfire that they could rush the facility on motorcycles, believing the military guards wouldn’t be able to stop them that way, Holaday recalled.

Nothing ever came of that scheme beyond campfire chatter, but Holaday, 59, thought of it recently when a Facebook event, titled “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us,” set off an internet frenzy. Even though the event’s creator, Matty Roberts, claimed it was a hoax and the Air Force warned against anyone breaking into the property — located within the Nevada Test and Training Range at the Nellis Air Force Base — almost 2 million people have RSVP’d on Facebook for the Sept. 20 gathering.

“All I thought was, ‘Here we go again,’” Holaday said, chuckling. As of this week, his motel, about 90 miles north of Las Vegas, had only two vacant rooms left for the days of the event.

 Misty Ingram at the Alien Research Center

Tourism drawn by talk of extraterrestrial activities has been a part of the economy for decades in the small towns that dot the valleys near Area 51. The boom began around 1989, when Bob Lazar, a self-described engineer, claimed to a Las Vegas television station that he worked on extraterrestrial aircraft that were housed at Area 51. Since then, business owners and residents have welcomed tourists hoping to get a peek at the military facility or spot a UFO in the sky.

But the Facebook event has ramped up buzz to levels residents have never witnessed, with motel and campground owners receiving scores of calls a day. If the event brings the masses it’s promised, many in the area are excited for the potential extra business. Some, though, are also concerned about the lack of infrastructure to accommodate the crowds that could attend.

“This is the most overwhelmed I’ve ever felt in my entire life,” said Connie West, who co-owns a motel, bar and restaurant called Little A’Le’Inn with her mother in Rachel, a tiny town about 50 miles from Alamo. Since the end of June, her business has been inundated with calls about everything from room bookings to bands that want to play on her property during the event. Like Holaday, she’s heard the conspiracy theorists talk of invading Area 51 for years, but nothing of this magnitude. “It’s a frenzy,” she said.

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