Gone To The Beach: The Best Annual Sandcastle Contests Around The World
July 13th, 2009 by Mara Rogers
Summertime 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!
Meanwhile, make sure to watch this video:
“2009 Sand Art Sculpture Video with Time-Lapse Recording” courtesy of Youtube
- The U.S. Open Sandcastle Competition (Imperial Beach, California)
http://www.usopensandcastle.com/ - Hampton Beach, New Hampshire Annual Sandcastle Competition
http://www.hamptonbeach.org/sandcastle-competition.cfm - The American Sandsculpting Championship Festival (Ft. Myers Beach, Florida)
http://www.sandfestival.com - Annual Sandsations Sandcastle Competition (Long Beach, Washington)
http://www.funbeach.com/events/sandsations/ - Sand Castle Days (South Padre Island, Texas)
http://www.sandcastledays.com - Point Reyes National Seashore Sand Sculpture Contest
http://www.nps.gov/pore/planyourvisit/events_sandsculpturecontest.htm - Annual Cannon Beach Sandcastle Contest (Cannon Beach, Oregon)
http://www.cannon-beach.net/cbsandcastle.html - The Texas SandFest (Port Aransas, Texas)
http://www.texassandfest.com - North American Sandsculpting Championship (Virginia Beach, Virginia)
http://www.neptunefestival.com/events.php?s=12 - International Sand Sculpture Festival (Jesolo, Venice Italy)
http://www.luxorcairohotel.it/en/2009_international_sand_sculpture_festival_03en19165en.htm
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I love this ~ sounds like a fun way to spend the day!
[...] out the Offbeat Guides blog for the full story, including time lapse YouTube [...]