We did it! We drove out to the Kecksburg UFO Festival this past weekend.
The festival is held every year at the site of the famous Kecksburg, PA UFO Incident. My sisters (Jess and Courtney), my 1-year old daughter (“Trudy” or Gertrude Rose) and my 94 year old grandmother (“Nanny” or Gertrude Rose) and I attended this year, and our photos from the trip can be found below. . As fun-seekers, and alien enthusiasts, this was a great semi-close road trip, and a nice way to spend a summer weekend. The weather was perfect too.
The Kecksburg UFO Incident
There’s not much known about what actually happened, but legend has it, a UFO was seen crashing into the area of Kecksburg, Pennsylvania back on December 9th, 1965. There were multiple sightings, but the government has been pretty tight lipped about it. There’s even an account that the FBI took over a nearby farm and made a number of calls during the days following the crash, but when the phone bill arrived, none of the calls were on the bill. You can watch an entire Unsolved Mysteries segment about it HERE.
The Annual Kecksburg UFO Festival
To celebrate the UFO crash, there’s a festival held every year in Kecksburg, and we were excited to finally make it. The town was filled with UFO and alien and Bigfoot enthusiasts, and super friendly people in general. We had a blast. There were lots of commemorative items, a bed race, food and drinks, live music, a hay-bale toss, a UFO parade, games, arts and crafts, a hot dog eating competition, a cornhole tournament, and even a UFO conference on the final day. Something for every kind of alien fan.
We had a really great time, and we even made the local paper HERE!
If you decide to visit during next year’s festival, or plan to visit Kecksburg in general, HERE is the adorable AirBnb we stayed in. It’s called Whispering Pines Cottage, and it’s as cute as can be. (Note: There is no TV, and very little WiFi. Only book if you want to disconnect and be one with nature!)
To break up the drive, we also checked out some other stops along the way:
- The Flight 93 National Memorial. It was moving and beautifully done, but as you might imagine, incredibly sad.
- A giant quarter. If you want my “two cents,” this was the most skippable stop on our trip. Basically a giant quarter “sign”. See it for yourself if you feel so inclined, but I warned you.
- The Ligonier Country Market, was amazing. What I would give to have this nearby. It was all made and grown and created by the local artists and bakers and creators, and there were sooo many things I wanted to take home with me. It happens every Saturday morning if you’re ever in town on a weekend. A must visit.
- The Haines Shoes House. Anyone local has to stop here at least once. Why not? It’s so close! I’d visited before, but we stopped on this trip to show my grandmother. Note (as we didn’t) that you need an appointment to go inside. We had to take photos from behind the fence. Inside there’s a little store too.
- And my favorite stop of all – Mister Ed’s Elephant Museum & Candy Emporium. Check out our many photos from this place HERE.
Check out our photos from the Kecksburg UFO Festival below. I highly recommend you add this festival to your summer plans next year. I’d go as far as to say the festival is “out of this world”. A bit of a drive for sure, you won’t be disappointed.
If you have any questions or want any suggestions, please reach out! [email protected]
