A few months back, I reported on a crisis in Roswell, NM: city officials were going to pull the plug on the annual UFO Festival. A few weeks later, I reported how such musical luminaries as Billy Ray Cyrus and Phil Vassar had pulled out of the festival, afraid that they might not get their money. I guess they fell back on raiding a daughter’s bank account and standing on a corner with a cardboard sign, respectively. But KOB.com has some good news, for UFO enthusiasts and washed up musicians alike:
The city of Roswell says it’s serious about the annual UFO Festival and finally approved funding for it late Wednesday.
The city council held a special workshop to approve a budget for this fiscal year which included $150,000 for the controversial UFO Festival.
That is the same amount as last year that was taken out of the lodgers tax fund.
There was some concern that the city might not fund the festival because it was not included in the preliminary budget. At that time, the city council wanted to look at whether the money was being spent wisely before funding it again.
The final numbers from the most recent UFO festival will not be ready until next month.
“We’ve got to be responsible to our citizens and also to the people coming to visit us… But I’ll guarantee I’m going to be watching it like a hawk, and I think you’ll see everyone at the table watching like a hawk, you’ve seen me yell and scream before, and I’ll yell and scream again,” said City Councilor Dusty Huckabee.
City officials says they will fully support the festival and that is why they decided to approve the funding before seeing the final numbers.
Two funny points in this article. One, which I’ve made before, is that why else would anyone go to Roswell and spend money there, if not for the UFO connection? Drop the festival and they become just another rinky-dink town with no reason for tourists to visit. Secondly, we definitely need more politicians who yell and scream. We don’t have enough immature idiots in government. Make this guy mayor. Now.
