'Storm Area 51' organizers cancel AlienStock festival to avoid ‘Fyrefest 2.0' and ‘possible humanitarian disaster’

Elise Solé
Updated

AlienStock, a festival poised to draw 50,000 visitors to a rural Nevada town, creating a state of emergency, has been canceled. It will be replaced by a “top-secret entertainment” event in Las Vegas.

According to a website for AlienStock, a celebration of extraterrestrial believers in Rachel (population: 54), the formerly-scheduled event from Sept. 20 to 22, was axed “due to the lack of infrastructure, poor planning, risk management and blatant disregard for the safety of the expected 10,000+ AlienStock attendees...”

AlienStock, a viral festival celebrating life on other planets, was canceled. (Photo: Getty Images)
AlienStock, a viral festival celebrating life on other planets, was canceled. (Photo: Getty Images)

Organizers blamed alleged permit-holder Connie West, the owner of the Little A’Le’Inn, a small motel booked to capacity for the weekend. “The permit holder (Connie West) was given multiple opportunities to provide us with the proof that things expected at this festival were in place,” read the website. “In fact, she refused to provide to us, as agreed upon, contracts, proof of deposits or any paper proof of anything.”

“....In short, the relationship has ended permanently, and AlienStock will be moving to a safe, clean secure area in Downtown Las Vegas as an alternative,” read the announcement. “We are not interested in, nor will we tolerate any involvement in a FYREFEST 2.0. We foresee a possible humanitarian disaster in the works, and we can’t participate in any capacity at this point.”

Fyre Festival was a failed music festival co-founded by Fyre chief executive officer Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule in 2017, and promoted in part by Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid. The festival unraveled in Great Exuma, the Bahamas, over disorganized planning. Local workers weren’t paid and McFarland was a defendant of multiple lawsuits alleging fraud, breach of contract, and negligence. He is serving six years of prison and owes restitution of $26 million.

Area 51 Celebration in downtown Las Vegas will replace AlienStock, a canceled event in Nevada. (Photo: Collective Zoo)
Area 51 Celebration in downtown Las Vegas will replace AlienStock, a canceled event in Nevada. (Photo: Collective Zoo)

AlienStock was redesigned as Area 51 Celebration. The Sept. 19 event at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center is co-sponsored by Bud Light and media company Collective Zoo. Admission is free and will feature live music from bands previously slated to perform at AlienStock.

In August, co-organizer Brock Daily told Yahoo Lifestyle of the festival, “If we do this right, in a few years, it could be an annual gathering like SXSW and generate a lot of money for Rachel.”

AlienStock came together from publicity over a Facebook event by a Nevada man named Matty Roberts. In June, he jokingly founded “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us” as a plan to bombard the Nevada Test and Training Range, a highly-patrolled government site known as “Area 51,” which allegedly studies unidentified flying objects (UFOs).

Millions RSVP’d to AlienStock, prompting Lincoln County, Nevada, to request police backup for that weekend, especially since the event coincided with a similar festival called “Storm Area 51 Basecamp” in Hiko at the Alien Research Center. The latter event (Sept. 21 and 22) will screen a recent Netflix documentary called “Bob Lazar: Area 51 and Flying Saucers,” about a physicist who alleges to have reverse-engineered spaceships at a secret government site.

Organizers for AlienStock could not be reached by Yahoo Lifestyle.

The town of Rachel posted about the cancelation online, calling the event “poorly planned.”

“All those involved will be exposed for their role in making this a complete failure and costing us, the Lincoln County tax payers, a lot of money in the process,” the statement read.

The website also mentions a “lack of communication” from owners of the Little A'Le'Inn and concerns over safety and logistics. “With a little over a week to go no preparations have been made for the event,” the site read. “Instead of 50,000 visitors we now expect to see a few hundred at best for what is turning into a Fyre Fest 2.0.”

Cautionary advice read, “If you still choose to visit that weekend stay away from the residential part of Rachel. Local land owners will step up to protect their property.”

West could not be reached for comment. In August, she told Yahoo Lifestyle that she was preparing for a community fear that 30,000 expected visitors would “come and trash the town.”

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