Saudi Gazette The day time hours and the night time hours are exactly equal and perfectly balanced. In lay man terms, “It is the first day of spring!” To greet spring, the season of promises and new beginnings, and to give visitors a break from their monotonous work routine next week, the municipality of Madina has come up with an interesting and refreshing idea. After Yanbu, Madina will bloom for the city is organizing a flower festival in the King Fahd Central Park. The festival called ‘The Young Gardener' will also host a lot of fun-filled activities for children and adults, as the mayoralty has planned many educational contests, races, sports activities, plays, short seminars, and other entertaining programs. Professional gardeners will show young children how to correctly remove flowers from their pots and plant them safely into the flower beds in the ground. Boys and girls can get their hands dirty in the soil and have a go at planting flowers themselves. They will be taught other basic gardening skills along with how to take good care of plants. The General Supervisor of Parks in the Mayoralty of Madina, Engineer Hamza Ibrahim Khosh Hal, said, “The flower festival in Madina will last for three weeks and the municipality has planted a fresh green carpet of grass with a surface area of 800 square meters. The colors and beauty of a total of 250,000 flowers planted in the main area of the festival will attract visitors from near and far. In addition, huge flower pots have been distributed throughout the entire city to adorn Madina's streets.” Companies in the agricultural business are participating in the festival as well and have set up booths to advertise their products like indoor and outdoor green plants, fertilizers, small trees, water fountains, shaded garden furniture, and flower pots of all shapes and sizes. The mayoralty will also be giving a small gift to each visitor; an individually wrapped and beautifully scented rose. Tourism agencies have also arranged tours to the flower festival for foreign pilgrims who have come to visit the Prophet's (peace be upon him) Mosque for worship. Festivities will commence every day from 10:00 A.M. to 12:30 P.M. in the morning, and then from 5:00 P.M. to 11:00 P.M. at night. Assistance will available for the elderly and those with special needs. __
