Mark Graves

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Tens of thousands of extraterrestrial fans clad in tinfoil hats and bug-eyed alien masks packed the 20th annual McMinnville UFO Festival from May 16 through 18. The event featured presentations by Ufologists, movie screenings, radio broadcasts, live outdoor music, and pet costume and UFO trivia contests. The event was topped off with a UFO parade through downtown that flooded the streets with a variety of aliens from across the universe.

Key speakers included Commander David Fravor, who told his story of an encounter with a UFO he dubbed "Tic Tac" while flying an F/A-18F Super Hornet over the Pacific Ocean. His story first gained widespread popularity after it was featured in the New York Times in 2017. During his presentation, he said it would be the first and last time he would publicly tell his story.

The festival, hosted by McMenamins Hotel Oregon, began in 1999 as a way to honor the Trent Photos taken in 1950 by local McMinnville farmer Paul Trent. The photos showed a floating flying saucer image in the sky over his property. The iconic images were featured in The Oregonian, Life magazine and scores of other publications and later started an investigation by the U.S. Air Force.

--Mark Graves

--mgraves@oregonian.com

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Key speakers included Commander David Fravor, who told his story of an encounter with a UFO he dubbed "Tic Tac" while flying an F/A-18F Super Hornet over the Pacific Ocean. His story first gained widespread popularity after it was featured in the New York Times in 2017. During his presentation, he said it would be the first and last time he would publicly tell his story.

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Mark Graves

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Mark Graves

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Key speakers included Commander David Fravor, who told his story of an encounter with a UFO he dubbed "Tic Tac" while flying an F/A-18F Super Hornet over the Pacific Ocean. His story first gained widespread popularity after it was featured in the New York Times in 2017. During his presentation, he said it would be the first and last time he would publicly tell his story.

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Key speakers included Commander David Fravor, (center) who told his story of an encounter with a UFO he dubbed "Tic Tac" while flying an F/A-18F Super Hornet over the Pacific Ocean. His story first gained widespread popularity after it was featured in the New York Times in 2017. During his presentation, he said it would be the first and last time he would publicly tell his story.

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Mark Graves

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