A month long summer festival in Al-Hassa is taking advantage of the tourist season to show visitors the culture of Saudi Arabia and a little extra. The Al-Hassa Summer Festival was organized by the Al-Hassa Municipality and inaugurated by the Emir of Al-Hassa Prince Bader Bin Muhammad Bin Jalawi Al-Saud. The festival showcases handmade crafts such as: Kitchen utensils made of date palm leaves and various types of the traditional Saudi tea, pottery, traditional decorations, sweets and traditional herbal medicines all in the specially built pavilion located near the Mahasin Center Vegetable market. The area, located roughly 60km inland from the Arabian Gulf, was home to the first seaport of the Kingdom. A photo exhibit of the old port gives visitors a glimpse of the area decades ago. “I am from this area and this is the first time I have visited the summer festival with my family. This is a great way to promote our culture to people who are not familiar with the region,” said Abu Saeed a Saudi living in Dammam. An Indian expatriate, Qamaruddeen said he was impressed with the level of craftsmanship of the items displayed at the festival. In addition to the cultural exhibition the festival featured something a little different. The Canadian Circus held several performances as part of the summer festival. Arabic dramas were also shown with traditional singing and dancing, along with a motorcycle stunt show and traditional poetry readings. Visitors of the festival, set to finish after the first week of August, have the chance to win a new car. Major sponsors of the event include Saudi Aramco and Bank Saudi Al-Fransi. __
