Ah, sandcastles. Built beyond the tide line on a hard-packed foundation, surrounded by a hand-dredged moat, the perimeter wall fortified with seashell-reinforced battlements, watchtowers overlooking a driftwood drawbridge, a grand tower central to the stately compound, strands of seaweed slinking up its walls like ivy — is there anything greater than a sandcastle?
Perhaps a sand sculpture of manatees, but only if it's a mama with a cute calf, rendered to scale.
These kinds of beach-media creations are exactly what you'll find at the fourth annual Sand Sculpting Contest at Clearwater Beach. The event, something of a local tradition, takes place Saturday, Aug. 30, with the sculpting beginning at 10 a.m., judging at noon and trophies awarded at 1:15 p.m.
Last year more than 125 participants made almost 40 sand sculptures, viewed by several hundred people.
The site of the contest is just north of Pier 60, a classic tourist trap that accounts for most of the spectators.
It being Labor Day weekend, the beach is bound to be unusually crowded. But if you're undeterred by half-naked masses of families, tourists, horn-ball teens and pier fishermen, come check out the sand sculptures.
A better time to come, however, would be at sunset, though it can't be guaranteed that the sculptures will still be standing.
By evening the majority of beach-goers have gone home to nurse sunburns and Pier 60 holds its daily sunset festival, a fair-like gathering of buskers and vendors selling artwork, crafts, trinkets and food.
There's a bounty of items destined for Florida rooms, bathrooms, condo walls or garage sales: water-colored sunsets, polyurethane-lacquered seashells, Mardi Gras-style masks and charm jewelry.
From two hours before sunset until two hours after (6:30-10:30 p.m., approximately), there's live rock 'n' roll by the Surfing Raccoons.
Add to that a postcard-perfect sunset and a small nation of sandcastles and assorted sand-sculpted species.
You could do worse on the last Saturday of the summer. You could spend the afternoon at Bed Bath & Beyond. And that would cost money.
Pier 60 is located where State Road 60 (Courtney Campbell Causeway and Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard) terminates at Clearwater Beach. For more info, call 727-449-1036.
This article appears in Aug 28 – Sep 4, 2003.
