By Owen Sexton / [email protected]
Believers and skeptics alike are invited to next month’s Chehalis Flying Saucer Party, scheduled for September 13 and 14 at several locations in downtown Chehalis.
The Flying Saucer Party first took place in 2019 and celebrates Chehalis pilot Kenneth Arnold’s historic UFO sighting on June 24, 1947 near Mount Rainier as he flew from Chehalis to Yakima, Oregon.
When interviewed by the East Oregonian for an article about his sighting, Arnold described what he saw as “saucer-like aircraft flying in formation,” helping to coin the term “flying saucer,” which sparked the modern UFO craze.
The theme of this year’s Chehalis Flying Saucer Party is “Revelation.”
Organizers have been announcing details of the Flying Saucer Party throughout the year ahead of the event, as The Chronicle previously reported, and now two final events have been added, including the Dash for Disclosure 5K fun run and an art exhibition.
The Chronicle spoke with one of the organizers of the Chehalis Flying Saucer Party, Lewis County Historical Museum Executive Director Jason Mattson, to talk about these events and find out the final schedule for all events during the Flying Saucer Party.
“The run starts at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday here at the museum, registration starts at 7:30 a.m. and costs $15, with proceeds going to the museum,” Mattson said.
The three fastest runners will receive awards and a prize for the best costume.
Additionally, both days of the Chehalis Flying Saucer Party will feature a UFO art exhibit at Mint City Coffee Roasting in Chehalis for any artists who have created or wish to create UFO or paranormal themed artwork.
“The art will actually go up on the 7th (of September) and stay there until the 21st,” Mattson said.
Artists can submit their work for exhibition at the Lewis County Historical Museum. 30% of the sales proceeds go to the museum and the rest to the artists.
While some events charge admission fees, many are free to attend. The complete schedule of times, locations and prices for all events at this year’s Chehalis Flying Saucer Party is as follows:
Friday, September 13
• The UFO art exhibit is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Mint City Coffee Roasting (539 N. Market Blvd.) and admission is free.
• Doors open at 5:30 p.m. for the second annual Northwest Flying Saucer Film Fest, with films showing from 6 to 9 p.m. at McFiler’s Chehalis Theater, 558 N. Market Blvd. Tickets are available at the door for $10 per person. This year’s award categories include Best Picture, Best Alien, Best Documentary, Best Animation, Best Music Video, Best First Feature and Audience Award. Individual trophies are up for grabs, as well as a $300 cash prize for the Audience Award winner.
The crowd favorite of last year’s inaugural Northwest Flying Saucer Film Fest and winner of the Best Documentary award was “Stuck In Orbit.” The film features John Henricksen, nicknamed “Burt Burtson,” who claims to have been abducted while trying to get people to believe his story. Henrickson made the film with the help of his family, including his grandson Enoch Lui, who directed it. “Stuck In Orbit” can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/868014471.
Saturday, September 14
• The Dash for Disclosure 5K Fun Run. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. at the Lewis County Historical Museum, 599 NW Front St., and registration is $15 per person. Runners are encouraged to wear costumes as an award will be given for best costume. The run begins at 8:30 a.m.
• The UFO art exhibit is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Mint City Coffee Roasting and admission is free.
• Charlton “Chuck” Hall, a retired psychotherapist and author and the Flying Saucer Party’s first speaker, begins his presentation at 9:30 a.m. at McFiler’s Chehalis Theater. Tickets are $15 and available at the box office or online. Hall will talk about “Tin Foil Aliens,” his new book in which he recounts his youthful adventures in the 1970s inventing UFO pranks and hoaxes, how this shaped his own hopeful skepticism and how to spot hoaxes among the sightings that have come to light today.
• The Lewis County Historical Museum’s UFO Disclosure exhibit is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the museum and admission is free.
• From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., vendors for the Chehalis Flying Saucer Party will be set up in the Lewis County Historical Museum parking lot, selling crafts and merchandise related to UFOs, aliens and other paranormal phenomena.
• The Kid’s Flying Saucer Crafts upcycling fantasy art station, where children can make their own flying saucer toys, is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Lewis County Historical Museum and admission is free.
• The South Puget Sound Lego Users Group exhibit of UFO and science fiction models is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the rear meeting room of the Lewis County Historical Museum and admission is free.
• Steve Edmiston, attorney and independent filmmaker and second speaker for the Flying Saucer Party, begins his presentation at 11 a.m. at McFiler’s Chehalis Theater. Tickets are $15 and available at the box office or online. Edmiston, who produced the film The Maury Island Incident, which documents Harold Dahl’s alleged UFO sighting over Puget Sound in 1947 and the first reported encounter with “Men in Black,” will discuss FBI records that reveal how the U.S. government shaped current UFO narratives and how Washington state gave birth to the “Men in Black.”
• The Alien Invasion Costume Parade begins at 1 p.m. on Northwest Front Street. Admission is free. The parade will feature live music from Olympia’s classic surf rock band The Jacked Lords and members of the Winlock Dance Center. There will also be a display of specially made crescent-shaped saucers modeled after Arnold’s drawings to show what he saw in 1947. Also featured will be participants from the Flying Saucer Party in their costumes.
• The legendary Saucer Drop begins at 1:30 p.m. in front of the Lewis County Historical Museum and is free. This event harks back to Chehalis’ old Krazy Days Festival in the ’60s and ’70s, where “saucers,” actually small Frisbees, are thrown into the crowd for them to catch. Each saucer has a prize attached to it. Prizes include a $50 McFiler gift certificate, tickets to the Lewis County Historical Museum, free cookies from Shona’s Food Company and free Flying Saucer Party shirts.
• Kevin Day, a U.S. Navy veteran and the Flying Saucer Party’s third speaker, begins his talk at 2 p.m. at McFiler’s Chehalis Theater. Tickets are $25 and available at the box office and online. Day will speak about his time aboard the Navy’s aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in 2004 when the ship encountered the now-famous “Tic Tac”-shaped object off the California coast. The object was tracked from the ship and was seen in footage taken by F-18 pilots from the Nimitz that was released to the public by the Department of Defense in 2020.
• Olympia’s classic and surf rock band The Jacked Lords will perform a free concert at 2 p.m. at McFiler’s Bar & Restaurant, 543 NW Pacific Ave.
• Connie Willis, guest host of the radio talk show Coast to Coast AM and the final speaker of the Flying Saucer Party, begins her talk at 3:30 p.m. at McFiler’s Chehalis Theater. Tickets are $25 and available at the box office and online. Willis, who regularly speaks on Coast to Coast about UFOs and other paranormal phenomena, will talk about her own personal experiences with the paranormal, her research and her views on disclosure.
• Flying Saucer Storytime, an event featuring an hour of children’s storytelling and a live theremin performance sponsored by the Vernetta Smith Chehalis Timberland Library, begins at 4 p.m. at Mint City Coffee Roasting.
• The band Sister Midnight will be performing live at McFiler’s Bar & Restaurant from 5 p.m., admission is free.
• For those who wish to ask questions, a panel discussion with all four speakers begins at 5:30 p.m. at McFiler’s Chehalis Theater. Tickets are $15 and available at the box office or online.
• The Chehalis Flying Saucer Party Karaoke Costume Contest featuring KJ Wednezdey of Centralia begins at 7 p.m. at McFiler’s Bar & Restaurant and is free. This event is for all ages until 11 p.m.
• A screening of the 1997 film “Men in Black,” starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, begins at 7:30 p.m. at McFiler’s Chehalis Theater. Tickets are available at the door for $5 per person. The Northwest Flying Saucer Film Festival Audience Award-winning film will also be shown before the film.
For those interested, VIP packages for the Chehalis Flying Saucer Party are still available for $85 and can be purchased online. The VIP package includes access to the Northwest Flying Saucer Film Fest and Saturday night’s film, as well as all four speakers and speaker panel, and a gift bag containing an event poster and t-shirt, collectible stickers, and a VIP lanyard.
To purchase tickets for individual talks or a VIP package, visit https://www.flyingsaucerparty.org/.
For more information, visit the event website or follow the Chehalis Flying Saucer Party on their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/flyingsaucerparty.
