The death of former president Laurie Wickens and the formation of a new group, including the election of president Peter Goreham, has led to the cancellation of Shag Harbour’s annual UFO XPO.
Originally slated for October 2 to 4 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, the Shag Harbour UFO Incident Society announced the cancellation on social media Aug. 13.
“We sincerely apologize for any disappointment or inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding during this difficult time,” the release said.
Board member Heather Doucette, who grew up with Wickens, said planning stopped after he spent more than a month in hospital before his death.
“It was just a hard time for us all,” she said in a mid-September phone interview. “Basically, there was no other way for us to get through it.”
Wickens’s death also led to the resignation of replacement president Chris Styles after 20 years with the society.
“I don’t know why they cancelled,” Styles said.
Paranormal Phenomena Research and Investigation echoed that disappointment. The group said the conference has become an important gathering for researchers, witnesses, authors, investigators and members of the public interested in unidentified anomalous phenomena.
“Beyond the conference itself, the XPO has done tremendous work promoting Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada while preserving public awareness of the 1967 Shag Harbour UFO incident — one of Canada’s most famous and extensively government-documented UFO cases,” its statement read.
PPRI had partnered with the Shag Harbour UFO XPO and expressed “tremendous respect for the volunteers and organizers who have dedicated their time and energy to preserving the history of the Shag Harbour incident.”
“It would’ve been awesome,” PPRI president Elliott Van Dusen told The Superstitious Times in a September interview. “I was excited because I was going to do the master of ceremonies stuff.”
There is optimism for 2027. Doucette said the team will have to reapply for government grants and wants to keep the Shag Harbour event in the Municipality of Barrington, N.S.
“It’s going to be a little different because Laurie’s not here,” she said. “We’re going to try to be more Canadian-oriented, rather than the United States, right at this moment. It’s not been decided yet.”
In place of the conference, the society will hold an open house at the UFO museum on Highway 3, the Lighthouse Route. Three witnesses will be on hand to share their experiences: Goreham, Normie Smith and David Kendrick.
“We have a new beginning because we all decided to make it work,” Doucette said. “We can’t let this die.”
All Eventbrite tickets will be refunded. Doucette said any grants given to the Shag Harbour UFO XPO will also be returned.
Anyone still interested in UFOs beyond the open house can attend the Fredericton UFO and Metaphysical Conference November 7-8 at the UNB Wu Conference Centre.