Sculptures from last year’s Great Sand Sculpture contest. Photo by Jim “Woody” Woods, courtesy of Rotaract Long Beach.
Get your sandals out and your shovels ready Long Beach because The 82nd Annual Great Sand Sculpture contest is coming to Granada Beach this weekend.
On August 16 and 17, internationally-recognized professional sculptors will construct a one-of-a-kind masterpiece, while amateur sand artists and dozens of community teams compete for prizes. Professional sculptors Bruce Phillips, Morgan Rudluff, Sue McGrew and Sandis Kondrats will be gracing Belmont Shore beaches with their granular creativity. Local libraries, artists, and vendors will be in attendence, while live music and food, as well as a fenced-off kid’s zone round out the day’s activities.
The Great Sand Sculpture contest is presented by Rotaract Long Beach, a group of young professionals seeking to serve the community who raised over $3,000 in donations for the Long Beach Library Foundation during last year’s event. The group was able to attract over 10,000 sand castle gawkers to the beaches of Belmont Shore and welcomed over 50 amateur teams to compete. The contest also aims to raise awareness for literacy causes in the Long Beach community.
Anyone and everyone from all levels of sand sculpting experience is encouraged to register a team for the sculpture contest. Teams can have as few as two or as many as ten individuals and can register in the family, corporate or civic organization category. Team sculpting will take place on Sunday, August 17 from 10:00AM to 4:00PM. Teams must place a deposit of $15 to hold their spot, while the deposit can be refunded the day of or be donated to the Long Beach Library Foundation.
Completed sculptures will be judged by art and sand sculpting professionals based on the following factors, according to the 82nd Great Sand Sculpture Contest team rules and judging guidelines:
- Execution of Design: whether the finished piece has clean, crisp lines that create shades and shadows and looks finished.
- Degree of Difficulty: Long Beach sand is considered “okay to pretty good” for building, if enough water and compaction is used.
- Clarity of Design: a good design that people can understand and that moves them.
Volunteers are needed for face painting in the kid’s zone, assisting in the creation of a giant professional sand sculpture and caring for the participating community teams. If you’d like to contribute to the success of this long-running, nonprofit event, click here.
For more information about the schedule of events, to register a team, to volunteer or to simply get some sand between your toes, make sure to visit the 82nd Annual Great Sand Sculpture contest website. The event is located at 1 Granada Ave., Long Beach, CA 90803.