The night that UFOs arrived in Huntsville ... sort of

The night that UFOs arrived in Huntsville … sort of

For a city once rated the best in the country for engineers, Huntsville on Thursday celebrated National Engineers Week by welcoming foreigners – as in out of this world foreigners – to a downtown park.

Sort of.

Thanks to the design of engineers from Lockheed Martin, UFOs can be spotted in Washington Park – the micro-park off Holmes Avenue in downtown Huntsville. At an event to commemorate National Engineers Week, the space and defense contractor and Downtown Huntsville Inc. unveiled two new light fixtures in the park shaped to look like glowing UFOs.

Lockheed Martin said the light fixtures were designed by its engineers through a special design contest hosted during last year’s Engineers Week and were brought to life for this year’s celebration. The lamps are one of several art installations sponsored by the company in north Alabama to support revitalization and to beatify the communities where it operates. Previous projects include utility box art in Huntsville and a mural in Courtland.

Light fixtures designed by Lockheed Martin engineers to look like UFOs were unveiled Feb. 23, 2023 at Washington Park in downtown Huntsville. (Lockheed Martin)

“This project is exciting because it allows us to continually bring our employees into the community to make a lasting impact,” Stephanie Bastiaans, government relations representative at Lockheed Martin, said in a press release. “Our employees were a part of the creative design process for a permanent install in downtown Huntsville; and that’s something tangible that they can see and touch for years to come. It’s important to provide these opportunities to employees and there’s something very powerful about leaving your mark in your community.”

Engineers Week is also an opportunity to encourage students to consider careers in STEM fields. Lockheed Martin said that’s a priority for a company with 23 facilities and 2,933 employees across Alabama.

But when you visit Washington Park – a unique place in itself with only 4,600 square feet carved into downtown – remember that in one corner of the Rocket City, a little space is reserved for UFOs, too.