Gone To The Beach: The Best Annual Sandcastle Contests Around The World

July 13th, 2009 by Mara Rogers

2739852966_5d18d6ed5a_bSummertime is here, but not everyone thinks ‘lazy days at the beach’ or making an occasional flip-the-bucket-over-instant-sandcastle. In fact, a global trend is growing–a unique, yet serious art–sand sculpture.

There are now more new sand-sculpture contests being held, and those that have already been in existence for many years are offering larger prizes than usual–making the competition even more fierce in the professional sand-sculpture circuit–$12,000 jackpot anyone? Sand is transformed into imaginative creations such as fanciful castles, mythical beasts, fairy-tale figurines, and much more, and they are showing-up on beaches around the world from New Hampshire to Japan. Most contests welcome amateur contestants, others only professionals and masters. Because these sandcastle and sand-sculpture contests are becoming so popular there is a contest somewhere for almost every month of the year. Check out these beaches and take in this admirable art for an offbeat and inspirational holiday this year!

2741607337_dd77a77c08_b Meanwhile, make sure to watch this video:

2009 Sand Art Sculpture Video with Time-Lapse Recording” courtesy of Youtube

  1. The U.S. Open Sandcastle Competition (Imperial Beach, California)
    http://www.usopensandcastle.com/
  2. Hampton Beach, New Hampshire Annual Sandcastle Competition
    http://www.hamptonbeach.org/sandcastle-competition.cfm
  3. The American Sandsculpting Championship Festival (Ft. Myers Beach, Florida)
    http://www.sandfestival.com
  4. Annual Sandsations Sandcastle Competition (Long Beach, Washington)
    http://www.funbeach.com/events/sandsations/
  5. Sand Castle Days (South Padre Island, Texas)
    http://www.sandcastledays.com
  6. Point Reyes National Seashore Sand Sculpture Contest
    http://www.nps.gov/pore/planyourvisit/events_sandsculpturecontest.htm
  7. Annual Cannon Beach Sandcastle Contest (Cannon Beach, Oregon)
    http://www.cannon-beach.net/cbsandcastle.html
  8. The Texas SandFest (Port Aransas, Texas)
    http://www.texassandfest.com
  9. North American Sandsculpting Championship (Virginia Beach, Virginia)
    http://www.neptunefestival.com/events.php?s=12
  10. International Sand Sculpture Festival (Jesolo, Venice Italy)
    http://www.luxorcairohotel.it/en/2009_international_sand_sculpture_festival_03en19165en.htm

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Responses

  1. Patti says:

    I love this ~ sounds like a fun way to spend the day!

  2. [...] out the Offbeat Guides blog for the full story, including time lapse YouTube [...]

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