NH Resident Looks to Carve His Niche This Weekend

When Greg Grady was a little kid, he enjoyed digging his toes in the sand at the beach and building detailed castles.

Little did he know where that summertime hobby would take him.

Grady, a 28-year-old Nashua native and current Londonderry resident, has been sculpting sandcastles full-time for the past three years. During that time, his hobby has become an exotic, travel-filled career that has helped him forge lifelong relationships with other like-minded artists across the world.

"It's art, and I've always loved art," said Grady. "I just love it. It's a great way to make money, travel around the world and meet interesting people."

Grady will be one of several artists competing for the top prize at this weekend's 11th annual Hampton Beach Master Sand Sculpting Competition, a massive display that features contestants from all over the world and is held on the beach near the Hampton Beach Precinct Playground.

The festivities begin this morning with a 300-ton sand dump on the beach. Competitors, some from as far away as western Canada and the Netherlands, will begin building a demonstration area on Saturday, and the contest officially begins Thursday.

There's a free showing on Saturday, June 25, at 1 p.m., followed by the "People's Choice" voting and the awards ceremony. 

Grady's father, a master sculptor also named Greg, started the event about a decade ago after he was commissioned to create a giant sand sculpture of a New Hampshire quarter. The competition has since exploded into a renowned display of the specialized craft, and also carries sizable prize money.

The event also serves as one of the country's four qualifiers for the World Championships in November, which makes it all the more sweet for a kid who first started sculpting five years ago because his father got double-booked.

"I was a shoveler for him for a long time, and one day he got two jobs and obviously couldn't do both so he told me to, 'go to one and try and sculpt something,'" said Grady, who said the judges didn't know the Grady they scored was Grady Jr. "I said (expletive), I can do this."

And doing it is what he's done ever since.

For most professional sand sculptors like Grady and Justin Gordon, both of whom held a three-day display in Salisbury, Mass., earlier this week and are competing in Hampton this weekend, competitions are appealing because they provide a chance to travel as well get paid for their work.

They also provide a chance to have a little fun, because tens of thousands of people come to the marvel at the displays.

"I'm not going to get mad if I don't win," said Grady. "I don't even try to win. Hopefully I go out, make a good piece and have some fun with everyone."

The sculptors are competitive, though. 

Gordon took first place in the Hampton competition last summer, although he  said there's "never really a 'guy to beat'" because "ever year is different" and each artist has a chance.

"You can't estimate any competition," said Gordon, a Groveland, Mass., resident who has been sculpting for 31 years. "It's always a tough field, and all you can do is try to do your best."

Grady and Gordon both said they have some ideas up their sleeves for this year's competition, including using some of the non-competition demo time to construct a Stanley Cup to honor the Boston Bruins victory.

Neither man went into too much detail, though, because they didn't want to give away what they hope turns out to be their edge. 

"There are some really good sculptors down there," said Grady. "It's hard to say who might win. To try and predict art is sort of foolish."

More information about this year's competition is available at Grady's website or on the official event page at HamptonBeach.org.