RIYADH: Crowds gathered in Boulevard Riyadh City to celebrate Eid Al-Fitr with fireworks and live performances.

Boulevard Riyadh City completely sold out tickets for the first two days of eid.

“I bought my ticket yesterday and when I went to buy it, there was still availability,” Eden Ellis, a receptionist working in Riyadh, told Arab News.

“I checked today in the afternoon and the tickets were no longer available,” she said.

Ellis visited the Boulevard along with two friends on Monday evening. She attempted to book one more ticket for another friend of hers, but could not do so.

“This isn’t my first visit here, I initially visited in December and it was very crowded,” she said.

Crowds gathered outside the Boulevard and in the parking lot to eagerly enter the celebrations, but quickly found that the tickets were sold out. Tickets were free but must have been booked through the TicketMx app or website.

The tickets were distributed on a first come first serve basis and quickly sold out on Sunday evening.

Many families that could not enter decided to sit on the grass and parking area outside the Boulevard to watch the fireworks show.

The General Entertainment Authority in its program for this year’s eid hosted a firework show at 9 p.m. that lit up the sky from a distance. Visitors caught a small glimpse of the fireworks that were used in a neighboring area, but many told Arab News that they expected the fireworks to come from the Boulevard itself.

Najd Al-Ruwaili, a Riyadh native, expected to see the fireworks from the Boulevard and came especially to see them.

“I heard the fireworks from Riyadh Boulevard but I wasn’t able to see them clearly, I could hear them so assumed they were in neighboring areas,” she said.

“That’s when some of the employees in Boulevard told me the fireworks were in the district of Hittin, but not from the Boulevard,” she added.

Families along the Boulevard gathered to quickly take pictures and videos of the distant fireworks and rejoiced in the eid celebrations.

Although not officially organized by the General Entertainment Authority, many families that visited on the first day of eid handed out small boxes of candies and eidiyas to children walking around.

The next three days of eid celebrations will kick off at 8:30 p.m. and close at 11:30 p.m. in Boulevard Riyadh City.

The first day of eid celebrations began at 8:30 p.m. with a Najdi cultural show followed by a traditional Saudi dance of Ardah.

During the second and third days of the Boulevard celebrations, a traditional Yemeni tarab band will perform, while on the third day, a live qanun performance will take place.