Alien Streetlights of Roswell

Roswell, New Mexico

Visitors to Roswell may get the wrong impression when they see the streetlights of Main Street, with slanted alien eyes painted on their bulbous globes, glowing green at night. The streetlights have become a Roswell icon, but Roswell had nothing to do with the streetlights.

They were a guerrilla art project staged by Larry and Sharon Welz, the creators of the gone (but not forgotten) Spacewalk at Roswell Space Center.

"It was completely unauthorized," said Larry. "The lamps were already green, and they had the right shape; all they needed was the eyes. But we couldn't get any permission from the city. So Sharon and a couple of friends ran up and down the street one night and stuck 'em up there."

A closer look reveals that only some of the streetlights have eyes, evidence of the haste with which the Welzs had to work. "We didn't get them all," admitted Larry. "We tried to get the city to give us a couple of bucks to complete them, but we couldn't get anyone interested."

In fairness to Roswell, the city has allowed the streetlights to remain in their altered state since the Welz's night of stealth artistry in 2001.