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Jeddah: Revitalized Tourist Destination Offers Exceptional Summer Experience

The entertainment season is stronger than ever (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The entertainment season is stronger than ever (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Jeddah: Revitalized Tourist Destination Offers Exceptional Summer Experience

The entertainment season is stronger than ever (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The entertainment season is stronger than ever (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Jeddah Season 2024 kicked off in Saudi Arabia on Friday with the theme “Once again,” offering a variety of activities across multiple key entertainment zones.
The event provides residents and visitors of Jeddah, a coastal city, with a unique summer experience in a rejuvenated tourist destination rich in cultural and historical significance.
Jeddah Season 2024 showcases live arts and cultural performances, innovative recreational and sports activities, as well as interactive adventures and skill-based games.
Additionally, it features numerous dining, café, and shopping options, making it a vibrant hub for all.
Inaugurated under the patronage of Prince Saud bin Mishal, Deputy Emir of Makkah Region and Chairman of the National Calendar Committee for Jeddah Governorate, Jeddah Season 2024 debuted with a spectacular opening at the artsy Jeddah Promenade.
The season’s opening featured drone shows, fireworks, roaming performances, and drew thousands of local residents and international visitors.
The annual festival also features a diverse range of international, cultural, and marine entertainment events.
Among the attractions, “City Walk” stands out with its interactive experiences across 8 themed areas.
At Jeddah Season 2024, “Cairo Nights” presents Egyptian culture with famous products, top restaurants, and live shows. “China Town” offers a unique cultural experience with Chinese traditions, cuisine, and more.
“Art Land” provides diverse family activities with games and shops.
City Walk offers relaxing riverside seating, while nearby “Horror Village” features interactive mazes for thrill-seekers.
“Wonder Wall” offers a distinctive culinary journey with a variety of different dishes, alongside live entertainment and unique restaurant settings set around a charming fountain.
City Walk also features over 30 skill and arcade games, along with three Arabic theatrical performances.
Additionally, the Warner Bros. Discovery: Celebrate Every Story area, being held for the first time in Saudi Arabia, provides visitors and tourists with a variety of games and entertainment shows.
Upcoming days will unveil new entertainment zones with unique experiences, fun games, and activities suitable for all ages and interests, including a closed animal park and the historic Jeddah Al Balad area.

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Spider Lovers Scurry to Colorado Town in Search of Mating Tarantulas, Community

A male tarantula looks for a mate on the plains near La Junta, Colo., on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
A male tarantula looks for a mate on the plains near La Junta, Colo., on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
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Spider Lovers Scurry to Colorado Town in Search of Mating Tarantulas, Community

A male tarantula looks for a mate on the plains near La Junta, Colo., on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
A male tarantula looks for a mate on the plains near La Junta, Colo., on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

Love is in the air on the Colorado plains - the kind that makes your heart beat a bit faster, quickens your step and makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

It's tarantula mating season, when male spiders scurry out of their burrows in search of a mate, and hundreds of arachnophiles flock to the small farming town of La Junta to watch them emerge in droves.

Scientists, spider enthusiasts and curious Colorado families piled into buses just before dusk last weekend as tarantulas began to roam the dry, rolling plains. Some used flashlights and car headlights to spot the arachnids once the sun set.

Back in town, festivalgoers flaunted their tarantula-like traits in a hairy leg contest - a woman claimed the title this year - and paraded around in vintage cars with giant spiders on the hoods. The 1990 cult classic film "Arachnophobia," which follows a small town similarly overrun with spiders, screened downtown at the historic Fox Theater.

According to The AP, for residents of La Junta, tarantulas aren't the nightmarish creatures often depicted on the silver screen. They're an important part of the local ecosystem and a draw for people around the US who might have otherwise never visited the tight-knit town in southeastern Colorado.

Word spread quickly among neighbors about all the people they had met from out of town during the third year of the tarantula festival.

Among them was Nathan Villareal, a tarantula breeder from Santa Monica, California, who said he heard about the mating season and knew it was a spectacle he needed to witness. Villareal sells tarantulas as pets to people around the US and said he has been fascinated with them since childhood.

"Colorado Brown" tarantulas are the most common in the La Junta area, and they form their burrows in the largely undisturbed prairies of the Comanche National Grassland.

In September and October, the mature males wander in search of a female's burrow, which she typically marks with silk webbing. Peak viewing time is an hour before dusk when the heat of the day dies down.

"We saw at least a dozen tarantulas on the road, and then we went back afterwards and saw another dozen more," Villareal said.

Male tarantulas take around seven years to reach reproductive readiness, then spend the rest of their lifespan searching for a mate, said Cara Shillington, a biology professor at Eastern Michigan University who studies arachnids. They typically live for about a year after reaching sexual maturity, while females can live for 20 years or more.

The males grow to be about 5 inches long and develop a pair of appendages on their heads that they use to drum outside a female's burrow. She will crawl to the surface if she is a willing mate, and the male will hook its legs onto her fangs.

Their coupling is quick, as the male tries to get away before he is eaten by the female, who tends to be slightly larger and needs extra nutrients to sustain her pregnancy.

Like many who attended the festival, Shillington is passionate about teaching people not to fear tarantulas and other spiders. Tarantulas found in North America tend to be docile creatures, she explained. Their venom is not considered dangerous to humans but can cause pain and irritation.

"When you encounter them, they're more afraid of you," Shillington said. "Tarantulas only bite out of fear. This is the only way that they have to protect themselves, and if you don't put them in a situation where they feel like they have to bite, then there is no reason to fear them."

Many children who attended the festival with their families learned that spiders are not as scary as they might seem. Roslyn Gonzales, 13, said she couldn't wait to go searching for spiders come sunset.

For graduate student Goran Shikak, whose arm was crawling with spider tattoos, the yearly festival represents an opportunity to celebrate tarantulas with others who share his fascination.

"They're beautiful creatures," said Shikak, an arachnology student at the University of Colorado Denver. "And getting to watch them do what they do ... is a joy and experience that's worth watching in the wild."