Photo essay: UAE's Liwa Date Festival celebrates 19th year

Dh8 million in prizes will be awarded to farmers who produce the best dates

The Alamri sisters, Mira, 6, and Maha, 7, at the Liwa Date Festival. All photos: Victor Besa / The National

The event celebrates the UAE's tradition of growing dates

Thousands of farmers come to the festival to display their dates

Judges select the best dates to award farmers with prizes that this year are worth a collective Dh8 million

At the festival's pop-up market visitors can shop for date products and other items from Emirati culture

Dates are also auctioned at the festival

The festival site in Liwa, Al Dhafra, is a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Abu Dhabi and about three and a half hours from Dubai

Emirati heritage is celebrated with performances of traditional music at the festival

Visitors can attend poetry readings and music classes at the event

Henna decorations are popular at the festival, as are other culturally enriching activities

The event has doll-making and handicraft workshops for visitors

The festival includes a cultural diorama competition, showcasing miniature camels, goats and tents

A competitor sets up his diorama

Emirati weaving uses the 'safeefah' technique – palm leaves are dried and woven together to create baskets, mats, rugs boxes, bags and other items

The festival is intended to be a culturally enriching experience for visitors

Bin Hathbour sets up his display of old model dhow boats, pearls, wooden clogs and other Emirati traditional items

The Bin Hathbour display is a regular feature at the Liwa Dates Festival

Arusa dolls made by Hanadi Ahanadi

The event opened on Monday and will run until July 30

Young jiu-jitsu competitors arrive at the festival

Visitors can enter the festival free of charge

The 19th annual Liwa Date Festival, a celebration of Emirati heritage, opened in Al Dhafra on Monday and will run until July 30.

The festival, which celebrates the UAE's tradition of harvesting dates, features a pop-up market as well as an auction where visitors can shop for dates and various date products. Other vendors sell items of cultural importance such as pearls, Arusa dolls and model dhow boats.

The event's main attractions are its competitions, where thousands of farmers come to display the fruit they have grown in a attempt to win prizes – this year worth a collective Dh8 million ($2.17 million).

This year's celebration, held under the patronage of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Presidential Court, aims to promote agricultural sustainability. The fair displays the latest advances in sustainable food practices through agricultural exhibitions and lectures on date farming. It is also intended to be a culturally enriching experience for visitors, offering poetry readings, music classes, henna artists and handicraft workshops.

The fair is being held in Liwa, Al Dhafra, which is about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from the city of Abu Dhabi and about three and a half hours from Dubai.

Visitors can enter free of charge.