Join us for the Men in Black Birthday Bash, a celebration of the first MIB encounter in 1947!

The festival that celebrates the absolutely true birthplace of the Men in Black mythology, and launched of the 1947 Summer of the Saucers!

What happens at MIBBB Fest? A men-and-women in black cosplay party on the shore of Puget Sound; a film party; UFO history walking tour; speaker presentations on how Washington State spawned “the men in black;” and more, all in the shadow of Maury Island, Washington.

Why?

On June 22, 1947, one day after Harold Dahl saw six flying discs of Maury Island, Washington, he encountered history’s first alleged “men in black.” And unknowingly launched a mythological and pop culture juggernaut we all know today. So, each year, on the anniversary of that first-ever “men in black” warning, MIBBB Fest celebrates the event - in “black-and-white” - on the shores of Puget Sound, in the sunset shadow of Maury Island.

EVENT SCHEDULE:

MIBBB Film

*Date TBD

MIBBB Film is a mini-film festival devoted to shorts - small films that ask big questions about authority, reality, conspiracy - all that we’ve learned, everything we’ve been told, and all manner of the unexplained and unresolved. Disinformation, secret societies, government experiments, apocalyptic warnings, off-book operations, paranormal and science fiction.

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The Men in Black Birthday Bash

June 21 | 6:00 p.m. at Quarterdeck

The party that started it all, based upon the encounter that started it all. More history, more mythology, more comedy, more music, more cameraderie, and just more - more. When is it? Why, the Men in Black Birthday Bash, of course. What to wear: Really?

MIBBB Games - Debrief! at the Waterland Arcade

The party that started it all, based upon the encounter that started it all. More history, more mythology, more comedy, more music, more cameraderie, and just more - more.

FREE! Maury Island Incident Walking Tour

*Date TBD

Take a Walk on the Wild Side!

Before The X-Files. Before The Twilight Zone. And definitely before Roswell. In 1947, UFOs appeared over Puget Sound, followed by an encounter with the original Man in Black. Join us for a guided “walk on the wild side,” where history, mystery, ufology, conspiracy, truth and tragedy twist together in the Maury Island Incident.

The tour is a 0.6 mile walk (one way), starting at the Maury Island Mural, then heading west to the Des Moines Marina.

Tour begins at the Maury Island Incident Mural outside Harper Studios, Des Moines.

FREE! UFO Northwest: How Washington State Spawned the Men in Black

*Date TBD

Speakers Bureau Lecture Presented by Humanities Washington

Get ready for MIBBB Fest! A 1947 UFO story from Washington shapes our current UFO narratives, from 1950’s pulp magazines to the ubiquitous X-Files and Men in Black film franchises. Learn how the Northwest’s unique position in UFO history is challenged by others that assert contradictory narratives.