Aliens invade McMinnville for 25th straight year

MCMINNVILLE, Ore. (KOIN) — Once again, the aliens landed in McMinnville.

The UFO Fest Parade wound its way through the city streets as part of the 25th annual McMenamins UFO festival that included vendors, live music, food and beverages, trivia, speakers and a question-and-answer session with experts.

The UFOs began coming to McMinnville on May 11, 1950 — if you believe the stories.

As the story goes, on May 11, 1950, Evelyn Trent was feeding the chickens and rabbits on her farm just outside of McMinnville when she looked up and saw the disc-shaped object floating in the sky.

She quickly ran back to the farmhouse, yelling for her husband, Paul Trent, to get their camera.

When the pair emerged from their house, camera in hand, they said the disc could still be seen in the sky moving west. That is when Paul raised the camera and took the now infamous photos.

According to the UFO Fest’s website, it took another month for Paul to develop the photos and even longer to share them with anyone, because he was worried about exposing a government experiment or secret project.

Finally, Paul shared the photos with his friend Frank Wortman who then went on to share the story with the local newspaper, the Telephone Register.

The story blew up from there, spreading from the small-town paper to other local sources in nearby Portland, then going national with features from the Associated Press and Life Magazine.