Worlds of Sand Sculpting coming to Beach
Fort Myers Beach will be hosting the 2011 World Championship of Sand Sculpting this November, according to officials from Sand Bash this past weekend.
Noted as the largest sand sculpture contest in the world, the Worlds event will be held the Holiday Inn on the Beach and promises to bring many world-known Master Sculptors who have qualified in yearlong competitions to the ultimate challenge.
The announcement was made after the awards ceremony at the inaugural Sand Bash, a successful, family-fun festival featuring tandem sand sculpting competition and demonstrations, live entertainment, kid’s activities and many vendors.
“Our company and the rest of the organizers are bringing the World Championships of Sand Sculpting to this beach in November of this year,” said Sand Lubbers’ Bill Knight, who emceed for much of the festival events.
Big C Events President Jason Camp, who is noted for being the creator of Sand Bash, confirmed the world-caliber championship event coming to Fort Myers Beach. Camp said officials from Sand Sculpture Events, LLC, the organization that runs the WCSS, approached Sand Bash organizers to see if there was interest in partnering for the Worlds event on the Beach.
“They approached us. We currently have a letter of intent, so there are some things we need to finalize including the date,” said Camp. “We are focusing on the third or fourth week of November, but we haven’t gotten the exact dates as of yet.”
Last year, the Worlds event was held in Federal Way, Wash. Thomas Koet won the singles event, Hanneke Supply and Martijn Rijerse were the tandem winners in the doubles event and The Macha’s were team champions. Team USA (with Beach resident and captain Katie Corning) was second in the team championships.
Regarding the Sand Bash sand sculpting doubles competition, Knight said there was only 10 points of the possible 549 points that separated the first and third place.
“The S- Hands of Time” by Sandis Konrats and Charlie Beaulieu captured first place. Gold medal for the sand sculpting competition took home $4,000.
“The Fish Story” by Matt Diebert and John Gowdy picked up $3,000 for second place and the silver medal, and the bronze medal and $2,000 went to Joris Kivts and Bouke Atema for their art “Unknown Heroes.” The “Sculptor’s Choice” award and $1,000 also went to “Unknown Heroes” and the Master Sculptors from the Netherlands.
“This has been one of the best-run events I have ever seen,” said Beaulieu. “I’m very excited about the World Championships coming here in November.”
The celebrity sand sculpting judges included Edison State College Art Professor Dina Kelm; Town of Fort Myers Beach Mayor Larry Kiker; Councilwoman Jo List; WINK-TV Meteorologist Scott Zedeker; ABC-7 News Anchor Stacey Deffenbaugh; and Fort Myers Boys and Girls Club President Jim Larkin.
“We had phenomenal weather. For a first year event, we had 40,000 people out here without any major traffic issues,” said Camp. “I think we brought a great event to the island. It was definitely beneficial to the community. Looking forward to Sand Bash 2012 and the Worlds event, which looks like it will be an 11-12 day event once we get the schedule finalized. There is not a better beach to bring the best sculptors from around the world to.”
The organizers thanked all the sponsors, coordination help and the many volunteers who contributed to make the festival a success.
“We’d like to thank all of the volunteers who have been out here. We cannot do this event without all of the organizations helping out,” said Knight. A special thank you goes out to Eric Tibbs for being the jack-of-all-trades and jumping on stuff all week. We appreciate it.”
Along with the walks through Vendor Village, the Kid’s Activity Center (where children were able to enjoy many games such as bounce houses and water slides), one could get a closer look inside a paid admission viewing area of the actual sand sculpting competition involving nine teams of Master Sculptor doubles. More activities inside the paid fencing area kept the festival goers occupied.
Master Sculptor John Gowdy’s Flying Colors events featured painted creations of thick quality photographic paper and acrylic paint. The paintings were auctioned off for proceeds to go to the Kiwanis organizations. The Bruce Springsteen creation and Statue of Liberty painting went for $850 apiece Friday evening. In all, Gowdy’s art collected $2,700 for charity.
Master Sculptor Andy Hancock, a woodcarving specialist by nature, showed the proper technique how to sculpt sand at periodic demonstrations, courtesy of Sand Lubbers “Sandvertising Agency.”
“Quick Sand competitions pitted Master Sculptors against each other in 10-minute competitions (judged by the attending festival goers) to see who can produce the best art in that time. On Sunday, “Psycho Kitty” Suzanne Altamare carved a better motorcycle than “Aussie” Andy Hancock. Netherlands Master Scultor Joris Kivts was declared winner after 14 rounds.
“This ‘quick sand’ competition’ is being held for the very first time. It’s never been done anywhere else. It has been done in the world wood-carving championship with chain saws, but not with sand,” said Knight, who was involved with the sand artist relationship end. He also expressed he liked the doubles competition because there is more detail involved with two people carving on one piece of art.
There were also Sand Lubbers’ photo opportunities with sand art such as the Easter bunny as well as many vendors offering a great selection of food, beverage, specialty retail and arts & crafts.
For extensive photos of Sand Bash, go to www.cu.fortmyersbeachtalk.com/galleries for Day 1, 2 and 4 scenes and page 23 of this issue for winning and competing sculpture photos.