UFO fun will return to Exeter - Seacoast Online

EXETER — The Exeter UFO Festival will mark its third anniversary this Labor Day weekend with a new sponsor, new and returning speakers, and a celebration of New Hampshire's most famous alien sighting.

Dean Merchant, the festival's organizer, said businesses and nonprofits will combine their talents for a day of out-of-this-world fun on Sept. 3 in downtown Exeter.

This September marks the 50th anniversary of the alleged alien abduction of the late Betty and Barney Hill of Portsmouth. The Hills were returning from a Canadian vacation and were driving through the White Mountains when they reportedly saw an alien craft and were taken on board. The experience gained them national fame, and they were the subjects of books and at least one movie. To her dying day, Betty Hill continued to report UFO sightings, some of them in Exeter.

This year, Merchant said, the Hills will be inducted posthumously into the Exeter UFO Festival Hall of Fame.

The event has a three-fold purpose, according to Merchant: It gets people into downtown Exeter; benefits local businesses; and provides visitors with something to do on Labor Day weekend.

The Exeter Kiwanis Club will sponsor this year's festival.

Pamela Gjettum, Kiwanis past president and current secretary, is a longtime Exeter booster. "We like the fact that the festival brings loads of people to downtown Exeter," she said.

The Kiwanis were involved from the start, setting up a food stand and making money for local charities, she said, and the festival gives them a good platform.

"We needed a big downtown festival," Gjettum said, and the UFO event fills the need. The events have drawn 1,000 people to downtown, she said.

And it's fun, Gjettum said. The event serves two groups: the "true believers," who cluster around Town Hall and the nationally known speakers; and people who come to Exeter to "have a good time and spend their money."

Merchant has stayed on as festival organizer and reported that several popular events will be back. The Children's Festival at Founders Park, next to the library, will feature a "story circle," crafts and its signature event: building a spacecraft out of recyclable items in the "debris field." Pamela Merchant, Dean's wife, is heading up the children's activities.

Neil and Elaina Santerre of Santerre's Stones and Stuff will provide a central hub for downtown activities and redemption of prizes. "It's 'Starship Command,'" Merchant said. He expects other downtown merchants to get into the spirit with sales and special promotions such as the Loaf & Ladle's "UFO Whoopie Pie."

The Loaf & Ladle will also be the site of an "Alien Cafe" with local acoustic musicians. And the Kiwanis Club will set up a grill for quick snacks across from Town Hall.

The Alien Pet Costume Contest returns, to be judged by Seacoast Media Group columnist Gina Carbone, he said.

While the festival offers something for everyone, the serious UFO buff will find everything they need in Town Hall, the site of the annual lecture series. The speaker series begins at 8:30 a.m. Saturday with Kathleen Marden, Betty Hill's niece and author of several books on alien phenomena; filmmakers Jeff and Jessie Finn, who are making a documentary on the Hills' experiences; and Steve Furmani of the New England Mutual UFO Network. Speakers also include renowned UFO researchers and writers Stanton Freedman and Richard Dolan.

Authors and speakers will sign books and go one-on-one with believers in a "Meet and Greet" room. In the evening, Merchant said he hopes to show the film "Strange September," about the Hills and their experience.

All events are free, with the festival funded by donations and sales of souvenir T-shirts. Proceeds from the T-shirt sales go to local children's charities, after taking out "seed money" for the following year's event. Merchant said last year's proceeds went to Big Brothers Big Sisters, New Outlook Teen Center, and to local families in need through the owner of a children's clothing store.

And, he said, the event raises understanding of unexplained phenomena. Exeter was also the site of the "Incident at Exeter," a sighting documented in another book by Fuller, and there have been less-publicized events in the town.

For information or to help, visit www.exeterufofestival.com, e-mail exeterufofestival@gmail.com or look for the Exeter UFO Festival on Facebook.

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