The south side of Manhattan Beach pier was littered Sunday morning with colorful buckets, shovels and sand-covered families, who came out to take part in the 53rd annual Sand Castle Design Contest.
Over a 100 people took part in this year’s contest, which started at 9 a.m. and ended at noon.
David Ibarra, a senior recreation leader with the Parks and Recreation department at Manhattan Beach, said the event’s focus is geared more toward providing families with a fun beach activity than a competition.
“Fun is the main aim of this event,” Ibarra said. “I mean, who comes to the beach with their family to build a sand castle? I have two kids and I don’t. So we’re just here to give folks that opportunity to come down here and just have fun.”
At the event, individuals who participated on their own were divided into youths, pre-teens, and teens and adults, whereas those who participated in groups could either do so in the open division with 2-10 members of any age, or in the junior division with 2-10 members ages 5-12.
Judged based on creativity, effort and detail, participants in each group were given first to third-place prizes for the best dribble, best castle and best sculpture. The prizes ranged from slip n’ slides to family games packs. Tee-shirts and frisbees were also given away on a first-come-first-served basis.
“Win or lose, this event gives people a reason to be out here with their family instead of sitting at home channel surfing,” Ibarra said.
Redondo Beach resident Mark Wolschon, a first-time attendee who was at the event with his wife and son, spent the first 20 minutes digging up sand, piling it up into a big heap and then patting it down again with a boogie board.
“We’ve been down here before just to watch people but this time we said, ‘We must participate,’” Wolschon said as he dug a hole around the base of his structure to keep the incoming tide from weakening it. “It just seems like a great family activity.”
Participants were required to bring their own tools to the contest and many brought along shovels, trowels, buckets and even cupcake trays to build their creations. Several people, like sisters Katie and Kyra Alcantar, also came prepared with little trinkets such as popsicle sticks, toy animals, beads and toy cars to decorate their projects.
Even those who were less prepared found ways to be resourceful, using seaweed and seashells collected from the beach to decorate their castles.
Manhattan Beach resident Diane Loughbom and 4-year-old granddaughter, Caitie Reilley, were among the resourceful participants.
“We’ve heard about the contest ever since the surf festival started,” Loughbom said just before running off to grab a strand of seaweed freshly turned up to the shore. “This is the first time my granddaughter is visiting from New Mexico and she said she wanted to be creative in the sand to be I decided to bring her out.”
Participants, however, were not allowed to siphon water, use structural supports, or use any environmentally unfriendly materials to decorate their projects.
“Once the contest is over the whole area gets cleaned by the participants and they aren’t going to be able to sit there and sifting through everything so we try to stay as green as possible,” Ibarra said.
Ibarra, who has been involved with the contest since 2002, said in spite of the limitations, he is always amazed by people’s creative yet environmentally friendly ideas.
“In the past, I’ve seen salt colored with chalk for decorations and stuff like that, so I’m always surprised,” he said.
Ibarra said, in the future he hopes to not only see the number of participants at the event grow but to also see the event grow into a more professional contest such as the one held in Newport Beach.
