Thousands of visitors are continuing to flock to the Jeddah Heritage Festival, with locals and expatriates praising the organizers for the broad array of cultural and entertainment activities.

Visitors were able to participate in 46 activities including seeing parts of the “Old Jeddah” with its small shops, water sellers and “neighborhood boss,” who was like a modern town mayor. There were also craftsmen, carpenters, dyers, masons, and sellers of traditional food such as boiled fava beans and pickles.

There were also displays of traditional children's playground games.

Many foreign tourists were impressed by this unique cultural event, and took pictures to document their visit.

This included Anne Casper, the US consul general, who was so excited and inspired by the festival that she posted some pictures on her Instagram account.

Long-time local residents were full of praise for the organizers.

Muhammad “Uncle” Al-Amoodi, a 69-year-old resident, told Arab News that the festival brought back sweet memories of his youth. “It’s very good to tell people about the old Jeddah culture. It was good for me to visit the place and reminisce about the past. Memories of my childhood and the simple life we led all came flooding back,” he said.

Hussain Bafeel said he was very happy when he saw the old Jeddah town. “It is an invaluable occasion for our kids to see how things used to be in the Jeddah of old,” he said.

Nimah Dawi thanked the organizers for the “impressive” activities documenting the history of Jeddah and its architectural traditions.

Muhammad Al-Omari, director of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities in Jeddah, said the festival has been a “complete success” so far. He urged landlords in the old part of the city to renovate their buildings to preserve their historic and architectural traditions. “They can do so in cooperation with our department. The idea is to preserve the aesthetics of the old town,” he said.

He said visitors came from all over the Kingdom and other Gulf countries. “No negative incidents or accidents have been reported so far. There are also special buses that transport people around the clock to and from the historic area,” he said.