In addition to the spiders, families will discover reptiles and other wildlife
Published in the Sept. 30 – Oct. 13, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Marty Cheek
Morgan Hill Life file photo
Sophia Johnson, 9, and Ava Johnson, 7, both of Oakwood School, check out a tarantula held by Monika Davis of Salinas at last year’s Tarantula Fest, held at Henry W. Coe State Park.
Bay Area families will get a fun chance this weekend to encounter hairy, eight-legged critters that might send a shiver down their spines. The Tarantula Fest will be held Saturday Oct. 3 at Henry W. Coe State Park.
The popular annual event celebrates the California gray tarantulas that make their home in the 87,000-acre rugged wilderness state park east of Morgan Hill. The male spiders leave their lairs during the fall to look for mates.
Besides the large spider, families will discover reptiles and other wildlife, enjoy live music by the Sada Spring Jug Band, and make crafts at the children’s activities table.
A barbecue lunch with all the fixings is available between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Prices are $7 (for hot dogs), $10 (for vegan) and $15 (for Santa Maria style steak and marinated chicken). All meals are served with BBQ beans, tossed salad, and grilled French bread. Soft drinks, juice, beer and wine will be available for purchase at the event. Families can also pack their own picnic lunch and enjoy it at the event.
“Tarantula Fest is an event for the entire family so you can see tarantulas,” said Sue Dekalb, an organizer of the event. “We have some exhibitors who bring tarantulas so you can see them up close and personal in the Visitors Center. We also have some snakes which are really popular, too. One of the volunteer’s wife has snakes and she brings them up every year — those are really popular.”
Photo by Sue Dekalb
Volunteers will take visitors on short hikes throughout the park for the opportunity see the tarantulas in the wild possibly walking along a Coe trail or down a ranch road. The volunteers will tell the visitors about the history of tarantulas in the park and what their lives are like.
Other activities include introducing families and individuals to geo-caching, a popular “treasure hunt” using GPS technology to find hidden caches in nearly 200 locations in the park.
Volunteers will also man tables where they will show natural items from the park such as animal pelts visitors can touch.
There will also be fun “old-fashioned” ways for children to entertain themselves such as a bean bag toss and a roping dummy for kids to practice lassoing under the guidance of a skilled cowboy.
The annual event is a fundraiser for the Pine Ridge Association, the nonprofit organization that helps keep Henry W. Coe State Park open for visitors throughout the year.
“From what I heard, I think Tarantula Fest started out as a potluck for the (PRA) volunteers and it got to be so much fun and there were so many park visitors around while they were doing it, they wanted to know why they didn’t get to do it, too,” Dekalb said. “So they decided to have a barbecue for the public as well and it just took off.”
The event is held the first Saturday of October because during the fall the male tarantulas come out of their burrows to follow the pheromone scent of female spiders in their own burrows and breed with them. Dekalb asked that visitors not handle the tarantulas because it disturbs the animals.
“Usually, the rangers catch us a couple of them so you can see what the ones here look like up close at the Visitors Center,” she said. “They are not dangerous. But they shouldn’t be handled. That’s the one thing I want to get across to people.”
Visitors also should not try to coax the spiders out of their holes, which are about the size of a quarter, covered with a veil of gossamer, and can often be seen along the trails and roads of Henry Coe Park.
“Tarantulas will leave you alone if you leave them alone. We don’t want people to be picking them up,” she said. “They do have really large fangs which I never knew until I took a photo of one. The fangs are about three quarters of an inch long so if you do get bit by one, you’re going to know about it.”
The males go to great lengths to try to get the females to come out of their holes, she said. Each one puts out a scent to attract them. If a female smells a scent she likes, she’ll come out or will invite him into her burrow for mating. She puts out a scent too to attract a mate.
Last year, about 300 visitors came for the event, Dekalb said.
