Goodbye Laughlin, Hello Phoenix by Paola Harris

It was a bitter sweet meeting this year as the 19th Laughlin International UFO congress met for the last time under the direction of Bob Brown and his family-Nicole, Crystal and Heather Brown). The husband and wife team of Bob and Terry Brown took over the conference which was initially created by Wendelle Stevens nineteen years ago. Perhaps one of the successful UfO conferences on Earth, the IUFO congress is moving to Phoenix Arizona after being bought by John Rao of Open Minds TV.

It was a smooth transition as seen by the collaborative efforts of OPEN MINDS Productions who streamed interviews, and participated in the Laughlin Events and mixed with all the participants. Nicole Brown shared responsibilities with Angela Rao, daughter of the new owner and as she explained the exciting new possibilities. It was also the debut of OPEN MINDS magazine, a slick new bi-monthy magazine that will highlight the UFO phenomena with articles submitted by International researchers. Editor Maurizio Baiata and Anonio Hunneus heads the magazine’s editorial team where Alejandro Rojas directs the visual, radio TV group.

Though a bit somber this time around, the atmosphere at Laughlin, Nevada is always fun, informal and light-hearthed as it is housed in the Aquarius Casino. People from all over the world, meet, network, and share a workshop, or a meal or just talk about UFOS and related events. They may even gamble now and then.

Most of all, it is popular because the conference invites as many as 30 speakers, well known researchers or people just entering the field. It is the place to debut a book, to learn the latest information, to speak with like-minded individuals. The slogan has always been “educating the public, one person at a time.”

But now it was time to say “good-by to the old structure”. The Speaker’s dinner was especially emotional when Bob Brown made a “farewell” speech and was embraced by Robert Dean and other elder statesmen. Now permanently living in Honduras, Bob is much loved by the UFO community and we are all hoping that the Browns will be welcomed to participate in some capacity with the new group. Bob’s daughter and fellow organizer, Nicole Brown paid special tribute at the Saturday formal banquet to her mother Terry who died of cancer some years ago. It was an emotional tribute which also recognized all the many volunteers who have worked behind the scenes with video production, set up and desk duties over all these years. It is evident that this has always been an act of love.

The board of directors received a crystal globes honoring their work over the years. The Board of directors includes Wendelle Stevens, Donald Ware, Haktan Aktogan,Karen Dolan, Ross Hemsworth, Paola Harris, AJ Gevaerd. The Saturday night gala continued with the EBE film awards and dancing into the night . It was a sweet good-by to a great tradition. A special note: The honoring at the Wednesday night Speaker’s dinner of some of the original Dr. Steven Greer may 9, 2001 participants Disclosure Project who happened to come together in Laughlin this year.