Roswell is famous for one thing: the 1947 incident when something crashed in the desert nearby, and the U.S. military's explanation — a weather balloon — convinced almost nobody. The town has leaned into it ever since. Lampposts are shaped like alien heads, storefronts have alien murals, and the International UFO Museum and Research Center on Main Street is the main draw.
The UFO Festival held every Fourth of July weekend is Roswell's biggest event — a mix of parades, costume contests, lectures, and general extraterrestrial enthusiasm. Beyond the alien kitsch, Roswell is a quiet southeastern New Mexico city of about 48,000 people, surrounded by ranch land and the Pecos Valley. The Roswell Museum has an unexpectedly good collection of Southwestern art, a planetarium, and a meticulous reconstruction of Robert Goddard's pioneering rocket workshop. The Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art showcases work from a 50-year artist-in-residence program, and the Bottomless Lakes east of town are a chain of strange, deep sinkholes in the desert.