Nestled atop Sand Mountain is the town of Fyffe. The small community in DeKalb County has a population of just under 1,000 people, but one local festival could double or even triple the size of this area as thousands of visitors flock to Fyffe City Park this weekend. The 18th annual UFO Days Festival is on Saturday, August 26. Festivities begin at 9 a.m. and continue until 10 o’clock that night.
“Generally, I would say around 2,000 people show up,” said Brandi Clayton, Fyffe’s town clerk and magistrate. “We’ve had upwards of 5,000 people, but two- to 3,000 would be a good estimate throughout the day.”
Visitors can expect a host of activities this year, including arts and crafts, face painting, children’s inflatables, train rides and even an antique car and tractor show. Nine musical acts are slated to perform throughout the day, including Fortner Brothers 4 Christ, Linwood Wilson & Sara Hambrick, AnnaLee Austin, Still Kickin’, Sherry Hancock & Southern Harmony, Average Joe Band, Worth the Wait, Jeff Martin & Caleb Chisenhall and Willie Underwood & Family. As residents and travelers explore the park, they may also enjoy more than 45 on-site food and merchandise vendors. Clayton said the annual festival is the town’s way of bringing the people together.
“The entertainment, they all do such a good job and put on such a good show,” she said. “We would just love to see everybody come out that is interested in a free event that is not something you’re going to be forking out lots of money [for]. A lot of these vendors come from Mississippi. We’ve got people coming from South Alabama to be a vendor at our festival. We would just encourage everybody to come out.”
However, Clayton said it is not just the sights that are drawing people to the mountain this weekend. It’s the town’s unusual history, which dates back to the era of high-waisted jeans, leg warmers and cut-off sweatshirts.
“In 1989, there were some UFO sightings. People were just seeing these unidentified flying objects, and people were coming to town here trying to look and see if they could see them too,” she said. “It brought in crowds of people. People just wanted to see what everybody else was seeing and what was causing all the chaos and uproar.”
According to the Encyclopedia of Alabama, roughly 50 different residents saw these UFOs on Feb. 11 and 12 of 1989, but Clayton said the mystery was never quite solved.
“Even in the early 90s, I think that there were more [sightings], and it was all unexplained,” she said. “Different places were contacted. People contacted [everyone] from the Birmingham and Huntsville airports to the Maxwell Air Force Base, Marshall Space Flight Center and the National Weather Service, [but] no one was able to explain the sightings that were being seen. The mayor, at that point in time, [Larry] Lingerfelt, thought that this was a good way to bring people back to the town. He took the UFOs and made it the Unforgettable Family Outing in 2004.”
Despite the town’s brush with alleged aliens, the only flying objects touching the sky this weekend are hot air balloons. These gentle giants will take flight early Saturday morning and late Saturday afternoon.
In addition to UFO Days, Clayton said she also recommends checking out downtown Fyffe as a whole.
“We have lots of new little shops opened up. We are just very pleased with what we have going on,” she said. “You will not walk into one of our stores and not feel welcomed. It’s just a great environment. We’ve got a lot of great local store owners here who are just so good to work with. We have a lot of secondhand, but then we’ve got antiques. We’ve got new little boutiques. We’ve got bin stores. It’s to be appreciated.”
UFO Days is free of charge. No ticketing is required. Parking at Fyffe City Park is also free. For more information on Fyffe’s annual, otherworldly festival, visit the town’s website.
