Castles Made of Sand – June 2019 – TravelWithTheSlowskys

And so castles made of sand
fall in the sea
eventually

Jimi Hendrix

Technically, they will be removed by a bulldozer. But not just yet. And I guess technically they are not sandcastles. Alright, have your way. Check out these sculptures from this year’s Hampton Beach (NH) Master Sand Sculpting Classic!

We continue our Northeast trip up into southern and seacoast New Hampshire, basing this segment at the Wakeda Campground in Hampton Falls, NH, and one of our goals was to attend the display of these massive and beautiful sand sculptures.

The event is a result of the entire Hampton community, volunteers, and is funded by the Hampton Beach Village District and of course all the sponsors.

Competing sculptors get three days (8 hours per day) to build their creations. Each artist is provided with 10 tons of sand as their raw ingredient (sand sculptures are made only of sand and water), and the fire department provides water.

You might wonder why would sand be hauled onto the beach? The sand at the beach, as a result of wave action, is actually rounded, whereas the sand hauled in from other parts of New Hampshire has a flatter surface, making it more stable, retains water better, and thus is better for creating sculptures. Who knew.

There is an enormous Sponsor Site created – in itself using 100 tons of sand!

I was not around during the creation of these sculptures, but obviously there is a huge amount of skill involved. These artists come from all over the US and Canada. I’m going to go out on a limb and say these sculptors may be a different breed of cat. But make no mistake – they are true artisans!

So, what are the rules you say? I’ll give you the cliff notes:

Just one person
Only water and sand (a spray mixture of Elmer’s glue is allowed at the end to help preserve the final sculpture)
No power tools
No molds of any kind

The criteria for winning are fairly simple: Overall WOW factor, technical skill degree of difficulty, consistent theme with well-balanced design and detail, and plot and sand usage. Right. We’ll ignore the judges’ decisions – you tell me who wins!