Balad festival likely to draw 1m visitors in holy month

People walk at Jeddah's historical area Al-Balad during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, Saudi Arabia, in this June 9, 2016 photo. (REUTERS)

JEDDAH: The Ramadan festival in the historic Balad district of Jeddah has started on a very successful note, with more than 20,000 people turning up on the opening day of the event itself.

The organizers of the event, entitled “Our Ramadan was like this,” said they are expecting more than one million guests and visitors this year.
The “Friday market” was a special treat for visitors, with more than 300 shops selling homemade products by Saudi families at north of Jufali mosque and Arbaeen lake.
This market is expecting to continue throughout the year to help the productive families and to sustain the historical Jeddah Festival.
Aysha Anzi, a visitor, said she visited the festival every year as it presented a totally different experience during the holy month of Ramadan.
Abdullah Al-Dawi, director of the organizing committee, said that this year they have arranged several religious, cultural and traditional platforms with more than 50 activities across all of the historical area.
“The events include folk dances, cultural performances, folk art, popular cuisines, old home photo exhibition and much more.
It is a special place for those with a taste for architecture because they can learn a lot about ancient art and structures.”
The festival has been organized at two different locations in a 700-meter of the historic area — from the Jeddah gate (the south allegiance field) to the Shafi historic mosque.
The entire area and walkways have been decorated with lanterns, special lighting effects and Ramadan decorations.
This has been done to create an atmosphere of Ramadan that prevailed in the region in the era before the demolition of the old walls of the city in 1947.
Al Dawi said this year the committee is strictly focusing on the Kingdom’s culture, literature, Arabian and Islamic history.
The festival opens after the Taraweeh prayers until 2 a.m. to give, and there are activities for all age groups and all segments of society.