Editor's Note: The Elmwood Area Community Club held an essay contest this year for the 2026 UFO Days. Elmwood students grades 5-12 were invited to write an essay with the theme "Why I Love Elmwood." The three selected recipients will ride on the UFO Days parade float.

Elmwood is mainly where I’ve grown up so I have some good memories, like searching for the UFO Days medallion or playing pool with my buddies at the Sand Bar.

The greatest part about Elmwood is UFO Days. It is a very fun event on the last weekend of July celebrating the UFO sightings in 1970. They have alien everything and it is popular all over Pierce County. There are grillouts, concerts and people everywhere. You can’t get bored when there are people you know everywhere. There are kids with cans behind their bike wheels and fireworks. It’s an all-round good time; they even bring in fair rides and food trucks. I remember riding bikes with my friends all day and then hanging out with my cousins until midnight, which was late for me.

Elmwood has some great aspects outside of UFO Days too, like eating with your friends at the Shack after swimming in the river all day or eating at Kern’s in the morning. But that’s all summer things; there are things to do later in the year too like going on the school’s haunted trail in October or going to Butternut Park when the festival is going on and getting apple cider. You can go sledding down the bank when there is snow on the ground or go snowmobiling on the school trail. There are so many things to do any time of the year, like trashbogging down the bank in the spring when it’s raining. From sledding to the UFO Days parade, you can’t get bored in Elmwood.

I’m so glad I live in Elmwood; it is fun to live here and I wouldn’t live anywhere else if I had the chance. If I was raised anywhere else, I would be astronomically different as a person. Having Elmwood as my hometown is an honor and I wouldn’t have it any other way.