I MADE IT UP: Another good tourism idea

by Carl D. Clarke, Jr.

Rats!  Another good festival idea is already taken.  Two weeks ago, I read about the 48th annual “Fangtastic” Waurika Rattlesnake Hunt in Waurika, Oklahoma.  These people know how to take a good idea and get some mileage out of it. 
Festivities start Friday night at 6 p.m. and run all day Saturday and Sunday.  You can buy snake meat, rattles and hides at the Butcher Shoppe (note the spelling if you doubt this is a classy event).  There is karaoke Friday and Saturday nights at the Chandelier Club.  In the photo booth, you can have your picture taken with a live diamondback rattle snake.  James White and the Outlaw Handlers (out of Grandview, TX) performed “feats daring and courageous in a pit filled with live rattlesnakes.” 
First prize if you caught the longest rattler was $150 plus a $50 bonus if the snake was over six feet.  There were also prizes for snakes with the most rattles.  Top market prices are paid at the snake auction on Sunday night.
My chamber of commerce heart envies the folks in Waurika, OK.  We need something like this to bring tourists to Abingdon and Washington County.  Virginia Main Street-Abingdon, our own downtown revitalization agency, ought to hop right on this.  All you need is a native species that people find both fascinating and abhorrent, and a little public relations.  Here’s my idea.

Washington County’s Black Widow Weekend —The Big Spider Hunt
Prizes for the largest and heaviest Big Mama spiders brought in alive!
See a man cover himself completely with live venomous spiders! 
Catch your own live spider (if you dare) in the pit on Main Street downtown!
Watch on the big screen as a mama spider kills her mate after mating!
Savor Black Widow pie at our fine restaurants.
Buy spider hunt protective gear at many local shops.
Hear informative seminars on Black Widows and spiders in general.
Rock the night away to goth music by Widow Black and the Creepy Crawlies.
I can already see it.  The town will fill up with arachnophiles and arachnophobes alike.  Our hotels and restaurants will be jammed.  We’ll have to route traffic off Main Street.  Parking will be at a premium.  People will rent out their houses and bedrooms like they do for Race Weekend.  We’ll have a big Black Widow Parade through the Historic District, led by (what else?) a 10-foot-high animated Black Widow Spider. 
Hey folks.  In terms of tourism, it just doesn’t get any better than this.

Carl D. Clarke, Jr. from Abingdon is a weekly columnist for the Washington County News.  He may be reached at