Downtown Portland ‘Area 51 Encounter’ cancels with no explanation

PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) – A traveling exhibition that bills itself as the ‘Area 51 Encounter’ canceled its planned events at the Fox Tower in downtown Portland on Monday, after weeks of advertising and tickets sold.

A PR representative for the event emailed FOX 12 on Monday morning around 11 a.m.

“Despite their best efforts to open the attraction over the past few weeks, producers cancelled the Portland engagement,” wrote Dan Grody, a partner with Tellem Grody Public Relations.

The exhibition had recently erected a billboard next to I-5 promoting the event, and the PR firm had been in communication with FOX 12 producers for weeks, attempting to set up a preview.

However, each time FOX 12 scheduled a day and time to see the exhibit, the PR firm would cancel the day before. This happened four times between May and this month.

Also concerning, the Instagram and Facebook pages for the ‘Area 51 Encounter’ contains what appears to be AI generated art, and no actual pictures of the exhibit.

Further concerns were expressed when a member of FOX 12’s staff bought tickets for his family and they pushed back the start date of the exhibit, while offering no refunds.

We even went to the Fox Tower last week and found signage promoting the event, however a security guard for the building said lots of people had come by asking about it, but he didn’t know anything.

Area 51 Encounter signage at the Fox Tower in downtown Portland.

A note taped to the inside of a window at the Fox Tower had a typed statement that offered little information, other than a statement about the event being postponed.

A sign taped to the inside of a window at Fox Tower in downtown Portland announces that the...

The ‘Area 51 Experience’ has passed through at least one other major city before. Online commenters say they attempted to set up the exhibit in Chicago in April this year. But like in Portland, it never materialized. It’s unclear if refunds were offered or given in Chicago.

In a follow up email on Monday, Gody said, “Anyone who was still holding on to tickets to reschedule were notified and automatically refunded.”

If you, or someone you know bought tickets to the ‘Area 51 Encounter’ in Portland, and you want to share your experience with our investigative reporters, go here to fill out our contact form or email kptvnews@kptv.com.

Read the full article here