Thursday, September 2, 2010

US Open Sandcastle Competition

Every year they come by the hundreds of thousands.  They converge on a strip of sand just a north of the international border, and watch as sculptors of sand create their masterpieces.  This year, we decided to join the masses and see what all the fuss was about. 

Entrants have only 5 hours to create a sand sculpture in the pursuit of $21,000 in prize money.  What they come up with is definitely above and beyond anything I have ever created with a shovel and pail.  Spectators file up and down the beach, checking out the progress of each masterpiece in progress, squeezing through the crowds to get a front row view of the action.

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Finally 2PM rolls around and the creations are complete (or as complete as they are gonna be).  The professionals draw the biggest crowds with their fancy camera crews and media attention but I think every sculpture was worthy of star treatment.

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The oil spill in the gulf was a popular theme this year. I suppose looking out at California’s pristine beaches, its hard not to think about what has been happening on the other end of the country.

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But most of all, creativity ruled the beach.

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If you would like to see these impressive sculptures be built right before your very eyes, be sure to head out to Imperial Beach next year. For more information, click here.

7 comments:

Amy @ The Q Family said...

That's so cool! Those sandcastle sculptures are amazing!

Lora said...

Its amazing what some people can create using sand and water. What fun to be able to watch them as they are being built.

Meg said...

Super, super cool!

LiLing @ Trekaroo said...

Wow! Really amazing photos!

Strauss said...

Amazing event is it happen every year? the Sculptures made by the contestant are amazing.

Thanks for sharing this lovely post!!

calikatrina said...

Amazing! And LOVE your blog! Just found you through "Just Spotted". :)

Carolina said...

I've totally been wanting to go to this. Where the crowds hard to navigate?