The Student News Site of Sonoma State University

Sonoma State Star

The Student News Site of Sonoma State University

Sonoma State Star

The Student News Site of Sonoma State University

Sonoma State Star

A joke turned festival: Storm Area 51

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Planning to storm Area 51 slowly becomes viral.

The event “Storm Area 51, They cant stop all of us” was created by Matty Roberts, a 20 year old video game streamer. His goal was to have people come to Area 51 and “find aliens.” Of course, this wasn’t meant to be anything more than a meme. 

The plan to storm into a highly secretive government base would later become an issue for people who live in the area and those who plan on attending. In the first place, this event itself wasn’t going to be huge. It had its fair share of attention, but with a couple of days it exploded and eventually over 2 million people claimed to be going to the event. 

Some local counties in Nevada have gone to extreme measures to keep their homes safe. Commissioners in rural Nevada have pre-signed an emergency declaration. Both Nye and Lincoln Counties have signed and approved the declarations. Two towns are considered the focal points for some festivals: Rachel and Hiko. Aleinstock and Peacestock 51 are the names of the festivals.“Storm Area 51” event has slowly moved into the small town of Rachel which is considered to be the “UFO Capital of the World.”

Linda Looney, who is the manager of the Alien Research Center in Hiko, thought that this whole event would not be possible. Looney said “I got excited, And then I got worried,” Looney isn’t the only one worried about this event turned festival; the county sheriff has gotten involved in making a plan to prepare for the worst. Sheriff Kerry Lee said, “we have been nonstop preparing for the past few weeks.”

. Even though the event online says well over 2 million are attending, officials are expecting around 30,000 people to come, however they question if more people will show. 

Just the area itself is in the middle of nowhere; there will be no water, food, hotel spots or emergency services in the area of Rachel or Hiko. The closest hospital is in Las Vegas, which is around 3 hours away. 

Air Force Spokesperson Laura McAndrews said, “as a matter of practice, we do not discuss specific security measures, but any attempt to illegally access military installations or military training areas is dangerous.” The Air Force has not stated or said anything else about trespassing into the military base. It still leaves more questions in regards to what would actually happen if a horde of people went in to raid Area 51.

Early this year on January 28, a man drove through a security checkpoint in Mercury, Nevada which is 60 miles away from Area 51. The checkpoint turned into a car chase. He refused orders made by the Nevada National Security Site Officers and was shot to death. Trespassing is obviously dangerous, and can result in arrest or death.

It’s best to just enjoy the festivals “Alienstock” and “Peacestock 51” and share alien facts and knowlege with others.. Storm Area 51 has turned from a funny facebook page to an event that has left hotels with no vacancy, locals in fear of incoming tourists, and most of the military and world confused and fearful of what will really happen September 20th. 

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