If you’re tired of the usual weekend drive to pumpkin patches, hay mazes, and other Halloween attractions that come every October, here’s an offbeat road trip idea for something to do that’s a little bit creepy (especially if you’ve got a case of arachnophobia), and definitely crawly. Every year, the Sierra foothill town of Coarsegold, just south of Yosemite, holds an event dedicated to tarantulas.
The Coarsegold Tarantula Awareness Festival is an annual celebration of the hairy, but harmless eight-leggers that live in the region. During this time of year, tarantulas come out of their burrows to find some ready and willing mates before going back underground for the winter. It turns out that these furry spiders are actually similar to groundhogs, except they forecast the coming of wintery weather, and most importantly, rain. So hopefully, we’ll see a lot of them crawling out and about this year, because we definitely need the rain.
The Tarantula Awareness Festival offers eduction about why these creatures are important, and why they should be respected and protected. The 17th annual festival, which takes place on Saturday, October 25 starting at 10:30 a.m., features things like the hairiest leg contests for both men and women, bug experts, tarantula races, and opportunities for kids to hold a tarantula. In case you’re kinda freaked out by spiders, don’t worry, this fest won’t be like that scene in Indiana Jones or like that mutant tarantula dog video. Hopefully by going to this quirky arachnophilic fest, you’ll get over your fear and be a new spider fan.
[Image via Thinkstock]
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