The quiet resort town of Arès, toward the northern tip of the triangle formed by Arcachon Bay, maintains a designated, but somewhat minimalist, waterfront landing pad for unidentified flying objects.
The story began in 1976 when the so-called “ovniport,” named for the french translation of UFO (OVNI, or objet volant non-identifié) was officially inaugurated as one of the highlights of that year’s oyster festival. The idea, which at the time generated extensive media coverage, had originally been dreamt up by a group of locals, led by a a Bordeaux airport employee and UFO enthusiast who claimed to be disgruntled by the lack of landing facilities for alien spacecraft.
The group managed to garner the support of the town’s then-mayor, who in turn sought and gained approval for the proposal from the town council, possibly keen to deflect attention away from the town’s ongoing association with Les Pélerins d’Arès, a religious movement which was later classified as a sect.
For many years, the spaceport was little more than a paved area offering ample parking space for passing UFOs that never came. In 2006, a cylindrical column was added, comprising a marble plaque with pictures of planets and a flying saucer, and a promise to offer “universal travelers” a warm welcome to our planet, with a heartfelt reminder that the town’s citizens are still waiting patiently. For added dramatic effect, this is written in the regional dialect, Gascon: Que vos atendem totjorn.
In 2010, a cast-iron model of a spaceship was added, which sadly hadn’t been designed to withstand the Earth’s atmosphere for too long, allowing rust and corrosion set in. The installation became a potential safety hazard and was removed and replaced in 2016 by a more durable alternative designed by employees at a nearby company more accustomed to manufacturing trailers.
