McMinnville’s 3rd Street was transformed into an extraterrestrial paradise May 13-15. Alien balloons crowded shop windows and people donned alien masks and hats made of tin foil.

McMenamins Hotel Oregon hosted the event. This year was the 12th annual UFO festival. The idea for the festival stemmed from the famous Trent UFO sightings. In 1950, two local citizens claimed to have spotted a UFO and photographed it. To this day, those photographs are some of the most credible images of UFOs.

Each year, the festival draws hundreds of people, including many visitors from out of town. This year, the festival included guest speakers, live music and a costume parade, which Linfield’s wood shop class participated in.

Adjunct Professor of Art and Visual Culture Totem Shriver’s wood shop class spent much of the term thinking of ideas for its float.

Shriver’s class has created floats for the parade for the past three years. He said he mentioned the idea to the students, and they were more than happy to continue the tradition.

One of the main things Shriver strives for in his class is student collaboration, which allows  students to be more creative in their thinking. The end product was a mixture of individual ideas and student collaboration.

While students had to agree on a theme for the float, they designed their own masks and costumes.

The class came up with the theme “Crystal Love,” which pays tribute to the Lemurian people of Mount Shasta.

“Lemurians are small mythical people who live under Mount Shasta,” Shriver said.

Lemurians spend their lives polishing crystals, which they believe to hold special spiritual powers. He compared the Lemurian myth to the belief in Sasquatch and the lost city of Atlantis.

The float incorporated a large crystal, which was supported by many smaller crystals.

The float itself wooden, while the student’s decorative alien costumes were derived from a variety of materials. Many of the masks were made of painted paper maché .

Students hand pulled the float from campus to 3rd Street on May 14.

Luckily, nothing malfunctioned until after the parade when a piece of the float became unhinged. Despite the slight impairment, the float won the award for Best Alien Group 2011.

The prize was a pizza party, and students were excited to have won the award. Shriver estimates that there were about 40 entries in the parade.

Winning aside, the students gained a great experience from their work on the “Crystal Love” float.

Junior Alison Pate participated in the parade and said that the experience helped her overcome her anxiety about performing in front of a crowd.

“I know that I can handle bizarre situations and do just fine,” she said.

Pate said she was also grateful for the opportunity to connect with the community through art.

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Emily Isaac/Opinion editor
Emily Isaac can be reached at [email protected].