Sculpting Draws Waves of Onlookers

While it may just an urban legend that eskimos have hundreds of words for snow, there was undoubtedly no shortage of adjectives to describe sand Monday.

Tens of thousands of people walked past the Master Sand Sculpting Competition demonstration site Monday and over the weekend, each uttering a variety of words to describe the sandy creations in front of them.

"It's very impressive," said Ben Spencer, of Lunenburg, Mass. "It amazing they can get that much detail out of sand."

The demonstration portion of the competition, which is in its 11th year and is located on the beach across the street from the intersection of Ocean Boulevard and G Street, began Saturday continues through Wednesday.

The official competition, , Canada and even the Netherlands, 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. 

Cindi Breitkreitz, of Tuscon, Ariz., was walking along Ocean Boulevard Monday with her family when her daughter noticed people where working on a massive sand castle on the beach.

"We had no idea they were over here," said Breitkreitz. "We've seen them on TV but never in person, so it's kind of neat seeing it in person for the first time."

Many passers-by loudly exclaimed "wow" as they walked past sculptors etching lettering into the sand or making three-dimensional flowers.

Beachgoers even got a chance to get up close and personal with the Stanley Cup Monday. Even though it wasn't the real Stanley Cup, people still treated Groveland, Mass., sculptor Justin Gordon's granular trophy as the "rock star" of the display.

"It's all freehand -- it's phenomenal," said Spencer. "Somebody's going to have to pour some champagne in that cup."

The hockey trophy replica, which sculptors were building as a tribute to the Boston Bruins' recent championship victory, also caught the eye of 9-year-old Brett Barrell, who was visiting Hampton on Monday because he saw the competition on TV and wanted to go.

Barrell said the display was "amazing" even if it wasn't complete. He also said it humbled his own sand castle creations, although not enough to make him stop trying.

"I'm building one over there," said Barrell, a Newport resident, gesturing up the beach. "It's not even close to these. This makes me want to try to build a big one."

Cassie Sciabarrasi, 21, of Lunenburg, Mass., and Allie Bilodeau, 15, of Fitchburg, Mass, said the master sculptors' work was "self-esteem lowering" and made them reconsider the quality of their childhood sand castles.

"They sucked so much," said Sciabarrasi while reflecting on her past masterpieces. "They were shaped like buckets, and we were so excited about them, too."

One thing that struck Breitkreitz was how well the sculptors worked together to create one display, especially since each have their own intricacies and styles that they hope to use to win the competition.

"It's neat they can all work together knowing they're all going to be competing against each other shortly," said Breitkreitz, who said she and her family will likely return to Hampton just to see how those styles shake out in the competition.

More information about the competition and a detailed schedule of events is available here.