Four years ago my husband and I moved from busy, modern Orange County, California to Coarsegold, California, a small tourist town, 20 miles from the southern entrance to Yosemite.  It was a big lifestyle change for us in many ways, just one of them being the type of entertainment that is available to us.

A few weeks ago, in my blog post entitled Local Community Activities, I described our local theater experience. I’ve shared pictures on Facebook about the local antique shops and fairs that are abundant here. And this weekend, our little community celebrates Tarantulas. Yep. We have an annual Tarantula Festival here in Coarsegold.

“The annual festival celebrates neighborhood tarantulas who emerge from their burrows each fall to find a mate, then hunker back down for the winter. The spiders’ emergence serves as a forecast for cooler temperatures and rain in the coming weeks and is a reason to celebrate for local townsfolk. Tarantulas began appearing, and starring in locals’ social media feeds last week.” – sierranewsonline.com

With all of these events scheduled throughout the day, how could it fail to be a day of excitement?

Pumpkin Pie Contest
Decorate Pumpkins
Tarantula Poem Contest & Reading
Scream Off Contest
Community Dance & Theatre Performance
Hairy Leg Contest – Men & Women (ages 16-99)
Children’s Tarantula Race (ages 3-8)
Bubble Gum Blowing Contest
Pie Eating Contest
Children’s Costume Contest – Trick or Treat Parade with parents
Pumpkin Decorating Awards
Dance Demo
Pet Costume Contest and Parade
Pumpkin Dance
Live Tarantula Derby!

We’ve been to the festival before. It’s quite fun actually, and we plan to go on Saturday too. So what makes this year different than other years? I am actually going to hold a tarantula this year. I am. I am building up my confidence today, and I am telling you so I don’t back out. I will be doing this on Facebook Live sometime tomorrow morning. So if you don’t think this will creep you out, or if you think it will be fun to see, tune in!

Photo by Carin Grobe Designs