Photo Gallery: City of Edinburg hosts annual UFO festival, conference
"Edinburg is the place to be," Letty Leija, city's Cultural Arts Director.
The city of Edinburg hosted its annual UFO Festival this past weekend from 7-10 p.m. Many dressed in alien and alien-rave attire, hundreds gathering for the fascinating spectacle along W. McIntyre St., near city hall, the fire station, and the county courthouse. Dozens of vendors selling foods, drinks and merchandise setup shop, entertaining all who walked by.
The main stage was located at the new Edinburg Promenade Park Amphitheater, opened last year, directly in front of a much-anticipated Creative Arts Center set to open in July 2024, inaugurating its grand opening with the also highly attended Frida Fest. While not open yet, its sizable white walls made for a good projection screen, as “out of this world” designs and graphics reflected off it, groovy electronic dance music filling the air from the main stage, as well as a tease for its grand launch. A moon-jump maze was set up in front of the festival’s main entrance, as city employees allowed groups of 5 or so in at a time.
The evening was headlined by a drone show over the amphitheater which several people I spoke with said was what they looked forward to most. City officials, like the mayor himself, posed for photographs with families. Local celebrities like radio hosts and writers dropped by as well. Running into 710 KURV’s Sergio Sanchez, he said of the event, “We’re on to something here.”
My favorite personal souvenir was the Martian-sized margarita cups being sold at the concession stands ran by local vendors. The Friday evening festival was the second leg of a three-day event which began with a film screening and open mic at the city library the night before and was followed by an all-day conference at the Region 1 conference hall around the corner from the university, which included a tour of an Edinburg UFO crash site, the next day.
A vibrant sense of community filled the air as well. The quintessential example of that was a neighborhood stand over at 318 W. McIntyre St., at the home of Mrs. Betty Shawn, longtime Edinburg resident. Shawn hosted a nachos and cokes stand as well as a vintage clothing and accessories kiosk, on her front yard, staffed by her daughter and grandchildren. Their home is one of the oldest in the area and, before the pandemic, was a well-known music venue hosting all genres of rock bands throughout the years. It remains a precious gem and occupies a special place in the heart of those in the RGV music scene.
Shawn’s main stage, a patio in the back of the property, is currently filled with potted plants although she plans on reopening the venue soon. We discussed hosting an Irish music house concert in the near future, noting the historic Celtic ties of the region, particularly Edinburg, as her husband was of Irish descent. But one example of how communal, artistic, cultural events boost small businesses.
Edinburg is on a role in hosting more and more such events, becoming a cultural alternative and competitor to neighboring McAllen’s artistic and cultural scene, which has been the only game in town for a long time on this side of the Valley.
McAllen’s art scene has taken recent blows, especially with the jumping ship of many artists from the formerly loved McAllen Creative Incubator, after two large clients (Zoho and Creative Arts Studio) exponentially overtook the incubator chunk by chunk, transforming it from a magical cultural paradise, albeit with carpet stains, into a lifeless void of consumerized, bland art, with carpet stains, only a handful of independent artists, musicians and instructors remaining.
While the McAllen Chamber of Commerce, who runs the incubator, redid the entire second floor to accommodate Zoho, it did nothing to improve conditions for individual, independent tenants, the vast majority of whom were situated on the first floor. I predict several will flock over to Edinburg, over time.
With rapid increases in population, which will continue as the Rio Grande Valley continues to grow as an international economic sector, enriched arts and entertainment scenes across the region are an inevitable consequence.
Nevertheless, Edinburg is beginning to develop its own night life and weekend festivities accentuated with local history and pride, providing a rich and accessible source of culture for residents.
Letty Leija has been involved with cultural arts in Edinburg and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, as well as its predecessor, Pan Am, for decades. I met her when I was a student government senator during the merger that created UTRGV in 2014-15. A graduate of Edinburg High School, class of ‘81, she says that while she wasn’t born in Edinburg, she “got here as fast as” she could.
We chatted about the promising artistic prospects for the city.
Having mentioned my personal annual favorite, Frida Kahlo Fest, which the city also hosts, Leija said, “This year’s Frida Fest will be part of a health and wellness initiative across the country. On July 28, all 18 cities across the nation — from Hawaii to New York — we’re going to be doing one big event. Ours is going to be Frida Fest, an art and wellness and woman empowerment festival. So, it’s going to be Frida Fest on steroids, ten times more.”
“Our grand opening exhibit will be in the ACE building — Arts, Cultural and Events center — we’re going to have a lot of public art, a lot of murals, a lot of things that are going to be happening right here on that day, so mark your calendar. It’s going to be amazing. Edinburg’s the place to be,” Leija continued.
“I know McAllen has the money and a lot of great things,” Leija added. I interjected, “They have their charms.” Leija replied, “And they do. I’m not going to lie, but we do it from the heart, as a community.”
jonathansalinas@substack.com