Funny. I organized a few of those in the 1980s.
Then you should know, there’s a lot of cash that runs around those thing. I’ve been to the Roswell celebration, the ENTIRE town becomes a convention. Every business figures out a way to tie into the thing. Not to mention the “official” part of the convention with all the vendors in the convention center. It’s a blast. And that week is probably when 90% of the money that comes into town arrives.
Many years ago I took my wife (a UFO skeptic) to a UFO convention in Laughlin.
I told her my mission—I wanted her to talk in person to people who claimed they had been abducted by aliens.
I wanted her to give them a fair hearing and then decide if she thought they were lying.
It was quite the experience for her.
She did not know what to think about the topic after that—but she was totally convinced they were not lying.