Businesses near the mysterious ‘Area 51’ section of Edwards Air Force base in the Nevada desert are cashing in on viral plans to storm the compound.
The online petition – which has seen over 1.7 million people sign up – is planned to take place next month.
And businesses large and small are looking to flog alien merch to any plucky UFO hunters that actually turn up. A convenience store named the ‘Area 51 Alien Center’ is locating along the US highway 95 in Amargosa Valley is doing a brisk trade in bumper stickers and branded glassware.
The convenience store is, coincidentally, the meeting place for the Facebook group that started off this whole thing.
Connie West, the co-owner of Little A’Le’Inn, the closest lodging to Area 51, says she’s fully booked on the day of the ‘event.’
She also has 30 acres of camping grounds people can book for $15 a night and so far 60 people have booked their spot.
And she is obviously hoping that the event does go ahead as planned.
‘Bring it!’ West told NPR. ‘It will be an experience. We’ll figure out how to deal with it or we won’t.’
Needless to say there’s a selection of alien mementos at the inn’s gift shop, including t-shirts, keychains and coffee cups.
Thanks to the global nature of the online economy, you don’t even need to be in Nevada to cash in on the alien craze that’s happening right now. Video game company ProjectorGames has created a game about the event, an early access version of which is already available on the video game platform Steam.
And the American beer brand Bud Light has released a special ‘Area 51’ edition to quench the thirst of any UFO hunters braving the desert.
https://twitter.com/budlight/status/1151596926627983365/photo/1
What is the Storm Area 51 event?
The Facebook event is a light-hearted joke, made evident by the fact that it is organised by meme page ‘Shitposting cause im in shambles’ and Twitch star and gamer SmyleeKun.
The event description calls on attendees to ‘Naruto run’ into the base, making reference to the title character of the Japanese anime series Naruto.
‘I posted it on, like, June 27 and it was kind of a joke,’ creator Matty Roberts told KLAS of the moment it all kicked off. ‘And then it waited for like three days, like 40 people, and then it just completely took off, out of nowhere. It’s pretty wild.’
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