The 25th Annual UFO Festival takes place May 16-17 in McMinnville, headquartered at McMenamins’ Hotel Oregon.

Celebrate all things extraterrestrial with expert talks, an outlandish Alien Costume Parade, Alien Pet Costume Contest, Alien Abduction Dash 5k and more. Don your best alien attire and join the fun in downtown McMinnville.

Hear from the top UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena) experts, historians and scientists discussion UFO sightings, extraterrestrial life and the latest discoveries in the field — it’s a who’s who of experts with Luis Elizondo, George Knapp and Jeremy Corbell, Rebecca Charbonneau, Stanley Milford Jr., Brit Elders.

It’s the second largest UFO fest in the country, after the festival at Roswell, New Mexico (site of a famous alleged UFO encounter).

From publicity: Since its first landing in 2000, this unique (McMinnville) celebration has called for believers, skeptics and curious earthlings alike to descend upon this small town (McMinnville), home to the 1950 Trent family farm flying saucer sighting — when Evelyn and Paul Trent photographed a strange object hovering over their farm on the outskirts of town.

In the 25 years since McMenamins began hosting UFO Fest, the conversation surrounding UFOs has evolved. In the early years a handful of people sounded the alarm about their research and experiences, with many doubters asking, “Where’s the proof?” In recent years, however, the government has acknowledged military sightings and other evidence to the point of holding hearings in which witnesses have testified, opening more people to the idea that something may indeed be “out there.”

Many events are free at UFO Fest. Tickets for individual speaker presentations and UAP Passes (providing access to all speaker presentations in the community center) are available now.

More: ufofest.com.