Local production company to document ‘Storm Area 51’ event
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IDAHO FALLS – To raid, or not to raid? That is the question this week as the public eagerly awaits the anticipated “Storm Area 51” event originally scheduled for September 20.
Although the raiding event that started off as a viral joke had been canceled, a local media company is going to Nevada to document and see if that’s really the case.
“I can guarantee there really are some people that really want to storm Area 51, but everyone kind of took it as a joke,” Porter Pro Founder/CEO Tyler Porter says.
Porter Pro Media is a social media marketing and video production company in Ammon.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation confronted Matty Roberts, the creator of the Storm Area 51 Facebook page, and visited his home. He then converted the event into a music festival called “AlienStock.” That was supposed to be a three day event starting September 19 in Rachel, Nevada near Area 51 after Roberts partnered with Little A’Le’Inn owner Connie West in Alamo, Nevada.
Roberts pulled out of the event and ended up moving it to Las Vegas because of the potential humanitarian disaster it could cause in rural Lincoln County.
“Due to the lack of infrastructure, poor planning, risk management and blatant disregard for the safety of the expected 10,000+ AlienStock attendees, we decided to pull the plug on the festival,” an official statement from Roberts says.
However, West hasn’t officially called off the event in Rachel. Nevada news stations are reporting AlienStock is moving forward as planned.
The bottom line is there’s a bit of confusion circling the event that sparked the interest of over 3 million people online, 2 million of which confirmed they were attending on the Facebook group.
“The city that it’s supposed to be taking place in is calling it Fyre Fest 2.0 because they just don’t have the resources to provide for a giant music festival and thousands of people showing up,” Porter says.
Regardless of what people are calling the event, Porter says his team is ready to film everything for their feature documentary and to witness the lead up to Sept. 20.
“I’m not really sure what to expect. As far as our crew, we’ve got three of us going … We’re going to be very conservative. We’re not planning to storm Area 51 ourselves obviously, planning to play it safe that way,” Porter Pro’s Creative Director Mark Richardson says.
Richardson says they’ve been interested in the social media commentary and buzz surrounding the topic. He says it’s been interesting to see what things can turn into and the responsibilities people have to potentially face.
“There’s a lot of things that could happen and a lot of people that could be hurt either financially or physically by being in the situation,” Richardson says.
“I think that’s why that Matty guy pulled out, is because he doesn’t want to be responsible for anything bad happening,” Porter says,
The Porter Pro team will be taking an RV down to Nevada Monday stocked with everything they’ll need for survival that week, including food, water, gas, and generators. They may even help other travelers in need, knowing the limited resources in the area.
During the week, the team will be interviewing stakeholders in the city and county and getting their perspective as they’ve prepared for the event. They’re also working to get an interview with Roberts.
“We’re going to be at the places he’s going to be at, so we’re hoping to track him down. Worst case scenario we’re going to get in front of him one way or another, and get an interview with him,” Porter says.
Porter says people can follow Porter Pro Media on Instagram to get a first-hand look at what’s going on each day — If they have service.
“Just follow us and wait for our documentary that we’re going to release,” Porter says.
The U.S. Air Force had released an official warning telling visitors to stay away from Area 51.