Two regional festivals canceled

Two regional summer entertainment staples have fallen victim to coronavirus.

Heritage Days in Portales and the UFO Festival in Roswell won’t happen in 2020, organizers announced last week.

“After a consecutive run of 35 years, we are going to have to take a break this year due to the ongoing pandemic,” Portales Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Karl Terry said of Heritage Days.

The event is scheduled the third Saturday in June each year with a street dance on the Friday before.

“After announcing last month that we would postpone the event until later in the summer, we found out that those possible dates already had the Memorial Building booked,” said Terry. “We are also uncertain and even doubtful at this point whether the restrictions for mass gatherings will be lifted at all this summer.”

Roswell’s UFO Festival had been scheduled July 3-5.

Organizers said there were several factors in their decision, primarily Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s health order restricting the size of public gatherings to five.

“Even if she lifts restrictions, there’s going to be so many regulations that we wouldn’t be able to host a good festival,” said Juliana Halvorson, who leads the MainStreet Roswell committee that organizes the festival.

It’s the first time the festival has been canceled since it began in 1996, Halvorson said.

Both events traditionally have attracted thousands of visitors throughout eastern New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle.

The Roswell Daily Record contributed to this report.