The 2025 Exeter UFO Festival, Exeter, NH

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Now...are you ready for the 2025 Exeter UFO Festival? Planning is completed and we're well on our way for the 2025 Festival, which will run on Saturday, August 30th and Sunday August 31st. 

All profits from the Festival go to deserving children and families served by Seacoast charities and organizations.

We thank our many sponsors, who make the Festival possible: the Exeter Area New Car Dealers Association, Exeter Hospital, Trends Gift Gallery, Harman Law Office, DiBona Dental Group, Gilman Real Estate, Postal Center USA-Stratham, Perkins Lawn Equipment, Flamingo Coffee Bar, Brewitt Funeral Home, DBT for You, The Czar's Brewery, Minuteman Press, and NH Monogramming. See more about these generous sponsors on our Sponsors Page. 

As always, the Exeter UFO Festival coincides with Labor Day weekend -- and the anniversary of the famous "Incident at Exeter." 

This is the 60th Anniversary of the Incident at Exeter. On September 3rd, 1965, 18-year-old Norman Muscarello reported to the Exeter Police his sighting of an unidentified flying object behind a barn in Kensington. As the Exeter police investigated the site, they too saw the object hovering where Muscarello had seen it. Headlines nationwide told the story. The rest became history as the police and investigators nationwide tried to determine what young Muscarello saw that night.

The Exeter Area Kiwanis annually sponsors a celebration of this event: The Exeter UFO Festival. Events, activities and our speaker venue are centered in downtown Exeter NH.

The Exeter Kiwanis Club -- producers of the annual Exeter UFO Festival -- are planning lots of fun and interesting activities: a full slate of well-known speakers, children's’ events (free), merchandise, trolley rides, music in the park, a jazz concert, and much more!

Merchants and restaurants throughout Exeter join in on the fun.

Stay tuned to this website and our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ExeterUFOFestival for complete and up-to-date details.

We hope to see you at "The 2025 Exeter UFO Festival!"

The Exeter Area Kiwanis Club thanks you all!

Valerie Lofaso: The Exeter Incident: Seacoast Life in 1965, How to Be A Good Witness, and Why They Still Visit
Saturday, 8/30, 9:00 to 10:15am
In this presentation, we will look at what life was like in the Seacoast area during the incident at the end of 1965, the do’s and don'ts of being a credible witness to encounters in the age of social media, and a theory about why UFOs and ETs still visit to this day.

Charles Foltz: The Allagash Abductions
Saturday, 8/30, 10:30 to 11:45am
One of the most famous and well-researched alien abduction cases of all time occurred in Maine's Allagash Wilderness in 1976. Charles Foltz was one of the four men impacted by this event. Learn about his experiences first-hand, as well as the impact it has had on his life to this day.

Stephen Bassett: Disclosure:  Where is the Congress and the Whitehouse
Saturday, 8/30, Noon to 1:15pm
Where is Congress and the Whitehouse as we are on the verge of a third major UAP hearing in September by the Task Force to Declassify Federal Secrets, Steve will provide the background and recent developments leading up to his hearing. Disclosure is still possible in 2025.

Eric Mintel: Paranormal and the Connection to Everyday People
Saturday, 8/30, 2:00 to 3:15pm
Prepare to journey into the unknown with Eric Mintel, one of today’s most compelling paranormal investigators! In his electrifying talk, Eric Mintel Investigates the Paranormal and the Connection to Everyday People, Eric will reveal how strange and unexplainable phenomena often touch our lives in ways we least expect. From chilling ghost encounters to UFO sightings and mysterious cryptid activity, you’ll see exclusive, never-before-shared footage captured during his team’s most intense investigations. Don’t miss your chance to meet Eric in person, hear the real stories behind the mysteries, and get a signed copy of his thrilling new book—your ticket into a world where the impossible becomes possible!”

Peter Robbins: The Graphics and the Classics: An Illustrated History of the Golden Age of UFO Literature, Imagery, and Beyond
Saturday, 8/30, 3:30 to 5:00pm
Peter Robbins is best known for his work in the field of 0UFO/UAP studies. Not as well-known is his background as fine artist, photographer, and longtime fan of period graphic design and book illustration, especially were UFO, science fiction, and space science illustration come together. In this unique presentation, Robbins combines his lifelong love of art and design, his UFO related scholarship, and his decades as a book and ephemera collector to take us back to simpler time and the art which emblemized the Golden Age of ufology as well as in the years that followed. Richly illustrated with images that range from the truly sublime to the genuinely ridiculous, the numerous and varied Cold War Era books and publications they’re drawn from referenced throughout. These and like images had a significant impact on America’s perceptions of and opinions about UFOs in the formative years of humanity’s growing relationship with the subject and should be regarded as such.

Mike Stevens: The Coast with the Most
Sunday, 8/31, 9:15 to 10:30am
Who is the all star of American Ufology? Will the East Coast or West Coast prevail. Join us as we travel the through the timeline of cases to see which is the coast with the most and explore the possibilities from sea to shining sea. 

Jimmy Petonito: Tales from "Mr. Haunted"
Sunday, 8/31, 10:45am to Noon
In the late 80's. Jimmy started taking pictures and audio recordings in local cemeteries that were thought to be haunted. He became a part of the New England Society of Psychic Research (NESPR) team as a paranormal photographer. Jimmy also taught classes on the paranormal and ghost hunting for 10 years. Since then, he has earned the name, "Mr. Haunted." Jimmy has been investigating the unexplained for over 30 years, having investigated hundreds of homes and locations and has assisted in 49 exorcisms.

Martin Willis: Encounters You’ve Never Heard—Until Now
Sunday, 8/31, 2:30 to 3:45pm
Join Martin Willis as he shares extraordinary, mostly unheard-of UFO encounters gathered during his travels—many told firsthand by the witnesses themselves. Hear about a bizarre experience along I-95 on the East Coast (do extraterrestrials enjoy ice cream?), a mysterious 1970s schoolyard encounter in South Africa where all sound suddenly vanished (not the Ariel School incident), a diver’s chilling close encounter with an intelligently controlled cube-shaped USO, and a dramatic sighting involving an Antiques Roadshow acquaintance who witnessed a box-shaped UFO explode into five glowing lights—plus many more captivating stories.

Panel Discussion: Panel discussion and Q&A with our 2025 UFO Festival Speakers and Festival Close
Sunday, 8/31, 4:00 to 5:15 

 See the separate Festival Events page for more details. 

• Town Hall Speaker Series (see the Festival Speakers section for more details): 8:45 am to 5:00 pm Saturday and Sunday. $40
• UFO Festival Souvenir Shop: 8:30 am until 5:00 pm, outside Exeter Town Hall. Featuring T-shirts, Mugs, Tote Bags, Posters and more. 
• Trends Gift Gallery, 85 Water Street: The same merchandise sold at the Festival is also available at Trends. 
• Food & Refreshments: Coffee - 8:30am to 4:00pm
• Most restaurants and shops in Exeter will be open on Saturday and Sunday. Find out why Exeter NH offers the perfect "foodie" experience, and peruse the eclectic shops throughout the town.
• Kids' Activities: lawn games, face painting, "UFO Crash Site" creations, gifts, free kids refreshments (Town Hall Common), Free.
• Exeter Incident Site Trolleys (starting near Town Hall Common): $5/person. 9:00am to 3:30 pm for half-hour rides to the site of the Incident at Exeter in Kensington. 
• Historic Videos regarding the "Incident at Exeter" (Town Hall, second floor), Free. 

Saturday-only Events

• Exeter Police Department and Exeter Fire Department 2025 Patch sales.
• Exeter Public Library, Perspectives Book Group: Time, 10am. The Martian Chronicles, Free 
• Alien Costume Contest and Parade: Free, Time: 12:00 Noon. 
• Alien Pet Contest: Free, Time: 12 Noon at the Town Hall Common park.
• Dance Party with Johnny B: Free, Saturday afternoon after the Parade (12:30pm-ish estimated time) in the Town Hall Common park. 
• Jazz Pianist Concert with Eric Mintel: Free, Saturday, 8/30; 7:00pm to 8:00pm at the Congregational Church, 21 Front Street, downtown Exeter.