This year’s event takes place Oct. 4
Published in the Oct. 1-14, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Morgan Hill Life file photo
Sophia Johnson, 9, and Ava Johnson, 7, check out a tarantula held by Monika Davis at last year’s Tarantula Fest.
Families will get a fun opportunity to encounter hairy, eight-legged critters that might send a shiver down their spines at the Saturday Oct. 4 Tarantula Fest held at Henry W. Coe State Park east of Morgan Hill. The popular annual event celebrates the large spiders that make their home in the rugged wilderness and leave their lairs during the fall to look for mates.
The Tarantula Fest has become a yearly tradition for kids and families to learn about Coe Park, at 88,000 acres the second largest state park in California, and encounter spiders, reptiles and other wildlife, said Ron Erskine, president of the nonprofit Pine Ridge Association involved with park activities for visitors.
“It’s just a great event that has something for everybody,” he said. “There’s tarantula’s that you can see and encounter. Not many people get to see them up close and so that’s a great opportunity to do that.”
The event starts at 10 a.m. and goes to 4 p.m. A barbecue lunch, which can be ordered in advance, is served from noon until 2 p.m. and includes Santa Maria-style steak, marinated chicken, and grilled hot dog and vegetarian meal options. There’ll also be a raffle.
Festival organizer Sue Dekalb said the event was started years ago to encourage families to find out more about the park and the wildlife that inhabits it.
“It’s a good place for families. We have a lot of fun stuff for kids,” she said. “There’s going to be snakes and tarantulas and kids activities. We’ll also have a roping demo for kids to learn how to rope like a cowboy. There’s going to be tons of fun for people to do.”
If there are no major fires to fight, a crew from CalFire will show off a firefighting engine to children. The Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center in Morgan Hill will also have its volunteers holding animals to give families a close-up view of birds and other wildlife.
Dekalb encourages families who live in urban areas such as Silicon Valley to attend the Tarantula Fest because many children often do not get the opportunity to learn about the wilderness by taking an easy hike to search for spiders.
“We’ll also have tarantula walks which are guided walks where people have a chance to possibly see a tarantula, although there’s no guarantee that they will, it depends if the tarantulas are out,” she said. “But there will be tarantulas in the visitors center so people can be sure to see them there.”
Erskine calls the Tarantula Fest “a great introduction to the park” because it provides the opportunity for families take short walks along the Forest Trail and Springs Trail near the visitors center. Henry W. Coe State Park is about 30 mintues drive from downtown Morgan Hill on East Dunne Avenue.
“Some might say it’s a bit of a drive, but just getting there is a nice experience in itself,” Erskine said. “You climb up over Morgan Hill and see from high up (Anderson Reservoir) and the South Valley. And from the headquarters there are so many great hikes where you can take a stroll into a place that’s almost transcendent. It’s really getting away without hardly leaving town and you don’t know what treats are waiting in store for you.”
The autumn is a good time of year to explore the park because the temperatures cool down, he said.
“In the spring time you get lots of people who come out for the green grass and the flowers, but in the fall you can be out there and be in complete solitude in delightful weather,” he said. “It’s really a kind of secret time to enjoy the park.”
