COARSEGOLD -- This foothills hamlet bursts with signs of autumn: golden hills, flaming auburn leaves rustling in the wind, acorns falling on roofs so furiously that they sound like gunfire.
And tarantulas.
Locals in this town of 17,000 in Madera County don't approve of running down the not-so-itsy-bitsy spiders. As most everyone around here can tell you, mid- October to mid-November is tarantula mating season.
Indeed, the beginnings of the Coarsegold Tarantula Festival -- the 10th annual event is today -- trace back to a new- comer from Oakland who didn't properly appreciate tarantulas.
"In 1979, I was pulling out of the driveway with my three little girls and I saw this thing," recalls Tarantula Festival founder Di- ane Boland. "I backed right over it, and the neighbor came over screaming, 'I can't believe you people who move up here from the city and start destroying things.' I felt terrible."
They actually have a hairy legs contests for men and women! Marvelous!
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