A new venue, old and new sand sculptors, and a somewhat vague theme “Circus by the Sea” didn’t seem promising as we watched the news about this year’s Quality Foods Sand Sculpting Competition & Exhibition that takes place annually at Parksville’s beautiful Community Park (part of the five week long Parksville Beach Festival).
Despite the change of location and some cooler weather, this year’s event seemed to be a great success. A lot of credit goes to the organizers and the amazingly cheerful, friendly and untiring volunteers (many of whom I’ve started to recognize!) Unlike other years, this year we had a chance to visit the sculpture twice: first while the sculptors were just beginning their sculpting–July 11 to 13 (after the sand forms had been built and the sand packed and stacked); and again in August after the judge’s had awarded prizes but the popular “people’s choice” option was still in progress. I always enjoy seeing the range of awards, reading the sculptors’ explanations of what they were trying to achieve, and having an opportunity to cast my vote. And its fun to listen in to the discussions and debates among families, groups of friends, and sometimes random strangers.
My two favourites this year were: The Circus Life of Pie and Cry Me an Ocean I enjoyed being able to walk easily around all the sculptures but not all the sculptors took this into account in their designs. These two pairs made it worthwhile to walk all the way around to gain new perspectives on their work. I particularly liked the way that Edith and Wilfred worked together and was very surprised, at the end, to see that the back of the sculpture became a clown swimming in his tears.
First prize in Singles—Thomas Koet, a design engineer and former World Champion sand sculptor from the Netherlands (now based in USA) was awarded first prize for The Juggler.
His description:
Draped in elegance, the mermaid ringmaster juggles the ocean’s treasures, her pearls dancing in the perfect rhythm of the tides and waves.
First prize in Doubles–a newly formed team featuring Canadian Fred Dobbs from Mayne Island and Jakub Zimacek from the Czech Republic. Their sculpture “Acrobats” depicts two bats in a trapeze act (?? not sure how this fits the theme)
Read more: “Juggling mermaids, acro-bats take top honours…“
If you have never attended the Sand Sculpture competition, you may find you enjoy it more than you might expect. The atmosphere is always friendly and the mixture of competitors is intriguing at times. Thanks to the volunteers and organizers, the event has always been a great one to visit.