Both believers and skeptics alike are invited to the Chehalis Flying Saucer Party next month, scheduled for Sept. 13-14 at multiple locations in downtown Chehalis.
First held in 2019, the Flying Saucer Party celebrates Chehalis pilot Kenneth Arnold’s historic June 24, 1947, UFO sighting near Mount Rainier while flying from Chehalis to Yakima on his way to Oregon.
While being interviewed by the East Oregonian for a story on his sighting, Arnold described what he saw as “saucer-like aircraft flying in formation” and helped coin the term “flying saucer,” setting off the modern UFO craze.
The theme for this year’s Chehalis Flying Saucer Party is “disclosure.”
Throughout this year ahead of the event, organizers have released details for the Flying Saucer Party, as previously reported by The Chronicle. Now, a pair of final events have been added, including the “Dash for Disclosure” 5K fun run and an art show.
The Chronicle spoke with one of the Chehalis Flying Saucer Party organizers, Lewis County Historical Museum Executive Director Jason Mattson to talk about these events and get the final schedule for all of the events happening during the Flying Saucer Party.
“The route for the run starts here at the museum at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, with registration opening at 7:30 and costing $15, with proceeds going to the museum,” Mattson said.
Awards will be given to the three fastest runners, along with an award for best costume.
Additionally, a UFO Art Show for any artists who have made or want to make any UFO or paranormal-related artwork will be held at Mint City Coffee Roasting in Chehalis on both days of the Chehalis Flying Saucer Party.
“Art will actually go up on (September) seventh and be there through the 21st,” Mattson said.
Artists can submit their work for the show at the Lewis County Historical Museum, with 30% of proceeds from any sales going to the museum and the rest going to the artists.
While some events do have admission costs, many are also free to attend. The full schedule with times, locations and prices of all events for this year’s Chehalis Flying Saucer Party is as follows:
Friday, Sept. 13
• The UFO Art Show will be open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Mint City Coffee Roasting, located at 539 N. Market Blvd., and is free to attend.
• The second annual Northwest Flying Saucer Film Fest doors open at 5:30 p.m., and films will be screened from 6 to 9 p.m. at McFiler’s Chehalis Theater, located at 558 N. Market Blvd., with tickets being sold at the door for $10 per person. Award categories this year include best film, best alien, best documentary, best animation, best music video, best first-time filmmaker and audience choice. Custom trophies along with a $300 cash prize for the audience choice winner are up for grabs.
Last year’s inaugural Northwest Flying Saucer Film Fest audience favorite along with winner of best documentary was “Stuck In Orbit.” The film features John Henricksen, under the moniker “Burt Burtson,” who claims to have been abducted as he attempts to get people to believe his story. Henrickson made the film with the help of his family, including his grandson, Enoch Lui, who directed the film. Stuck In Orbit can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/868014471.
Saturday, Sept. 14
• The ”Dash for Disclosure” 5K fun run, with registration opening at 7:30 a.m. at the Lewis County Historical Museum, located at 599 NW Front St., with registration costing $15 per person. Runners are encouraged to wear costumes as an award for best costume will be given out, and the run begins at 8:30 a.m.
• The UFO Art Show will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Mint City Coffee Roasting and is free to attend.
• Charlton “Chuck” Hall, a retired psychotherapist and author and the Flying Saucer Party’s first speaker, will begin his presentation at 9:30 a.m. at McFiler’s Chehalis Theater with tickets costing $15 and available at the door or online. Hall will discuss “Tin Foil Aliens,” his new book recounting his youthful adventures in the 1970s creating UFO pranks and hoaxes, how it shaped his own hopeful skepticism, and how to identify hoaxes among modern disclosed sightings.
• The Lewis County Historical Museum’s UFO disclosure exhibit will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. inside the museum and is free to attend.
• Chehalis Flying Saucer Party vendors will be set up from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the parking lot of the Lewis County Historical Museum selling UFO, alien and other paranormal-related crafts and merchandise.
• The Kid’s Flying Saucer Crafts upcycled imagination art station, giving children the chance to make their own custom flying saucer toys, will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Lewis County Historical Museum, and is free to attend.
• The South Puget Sound Lego Users Group display, featuring UFO and sci-fi related builds, will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. inside the Lewis County Historical Museum in the back meeting room and is free to attend.
• Steve Edmiston, a lawyer and indie filmmaker and the Flying Saucer Party’s second speaker, will begin his presentation at 11 a.m. at McFiler’s Chehalis Theater with tickets costing $15 and available at the door or online. Edmiston, who produced the film The Maury Island Incident chronicling Harold Dahl’s alleged 1947 UFO sighting over Puget Sound and the first reported encounter with “Men in Black,” will discuss FBI records exposing how the U.S. government shaped current UFO narratives and how Washington state spawned the “Men in Black.”
• The “Alien Invasion” costume parade will begin at 1 p.m. on Northwest Front Street and is free to attend and participate in. The parade features live music by Olympia’s classic and surf rock band The Jacked Lords and Winlock Dance Center members — with a custom made crescent shaped saucers display modeled after what Arnold illustrated to show what he saw in 1947 — along with Flying Saucer Party attendees dressed up in their costumes.
• The iconic Saucer Drop will begin at 1:30 p.m. outside of the Lewis County Historical Museum and is free to attend. This event goes back to Chehalis’ old Krazy Days Festival in the ’60s and ’70s, where “saucers,” which are actually tiny Frisbees, are tossed out to the crowd for them to catch, with each saucer having a prize taped to it. Some prizes r include a $50 McFiler’s gift certificate, passes for free admission 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, will begin his presentation at 2 p.m. at McFiler’s Chehalis Theater, with tickets costing $25 and available at the door and online. Day will discuss his time aboard the Navy’s aircraft carrier the 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 seen in footage recorded by F-18 pilots from the Nimitz, which was disclosed 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 beginning at 2 p.m. at McFiler’s Bar & Restaurant, located at 543 NW Pacific Ave.
• Connie Willis, guest host of the radio variety talk-show Coast to Coast AM and the Flying Saucer Party’s final speaker, will begin her presentation at 3:30 p.m. at McFiler’s Chehalis Theater, with tickets costing $25 and available at the door and online. Willis, who routinely talks about UFOs and other paranormal phenomena on Coast to Coast, 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 both storytelling for children and a live theremin performance, sponsored by the Vernetta Smith Chehalis Timberland Library, will begin at 4 p.m. at Mint City Coffee Roasting.
• The band Sister Midnight will be performing live beginning at 5 p.m. at McFiler’s Bar & Restaurant in a concert that is free to attend.
• A speaker panel with all four speakers will begin at 5:30 p.m. at McFiler’s Chehalis Theater for those wishing to ask questions, with tickets costing $15 and available at the door or online.
• The Chehalis Flying Saucer Party Karaoke Costume Contest featuring Centralia’s KJ Wednezdey will start at 7 p.m. at McFiler’s Bar & Restaurant and is free to attend. This event is all ages until 11 p.m.
• A showing of the 1997 film “Men in Black,” starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones will start at 7:30 p.m. at McFiler’s Chehalis Theater, with tickets sold at the door for $5 a person. Prior to the film, a screening of the Northwest Flying Saucer Film Festival’s audience choice winner will also be held.
For those interested, Chehalis Flying Saucer Party VIP packages are still available for $85 and can be purchased online. The VIP package includes access to the Northwest Flying Saucer Film Fest and the Saturday night movie and all four speakers plus the speaker panel, and a goodie bag with an event poster and T-shirt, collectible stickers and a VIP lanyard.
To purchase tickets to individual speakers or a VIP package, visit https://www.flyingsaucerparty.org/.
For more information, visit the event’s website or follow the Chehalis Flying Saucer Party on its Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/flyingsaucerparty.
