Beyond Sand Castles

Building sand castles with plastic buckets and shovels is fun, but there’s so much more you can do with sand — and the sculptors participating in the 20th annual Hampton Beach Sand Sculpting Classic are going to prove it.
“I like to call it an outdoor art gallery,” Lisa Martineau, co-director of marketing for the Hampton Beach Village District, said of the work that the sculptors create on the beach. “These guys are really at the top of their game.”

The competition is usually held in June but was postponed due to Covid-19. Now, the sand will be brought in Thursday, Aug. 27, the creation of the sponsor site will start Friday, Aug. 28, a group carve will happen Tuesday, Sept. 1, and the solo competition starts Wednesday, Sept. 2.

Beachgoers will still have the opportunity to gaze at the massive sand sculptures, but the process of choosing a winner will be a little different.

“Usually, for people’s choice, viewers cast their vote on a piece of paper that’s put into a bucket,” Martineau said. “Because of the virus, we don’t want any interaction that involves different people touching the same piece of paper. Plus, everybody has to stand in line, and it’s really hard to socially distance that way.”

Instead, she said, they might post pictures online and have people vote that way.

“We reach 65,000 people on our Facebook page, and it’s made up of people from all around the country,” Martineau said. “[Exactly how we will have people vote] still unknown, but we will have people cast their votes through text or social media.”

With a potentially larger voting pool and an increased purse for the top five sculptures, the stakes are higher than ever.

“The Hampton Beach competition has the largest purse in the world for sand sculpting this year, but that’s because so much has been canceled around the world,” Martineau said.

The $27,000 in purse and entry awards will be distributed among the top four sculptors and recipient of the people’s choice award, which will be facilitated differently to adhere to social distancing guidelines.

Even though finding a way to safely cast votes has been challenging, Martineau says the people’s choice award is crucial, as it is important not only to the community, but to the sculptors as well.

“We want to make people’s choice happen,” Martineau said. “The sculptors will tell you that people’s choice is the award that means the most to them. Some of them don’t even sculpt to win — they just want to make people happy. I think that’s a great mindset to go into the competition with, especially under these circumstances.”

Judging for the other prizes is primarily based on the overall “wow” factor, level of difficulty and how creative the name of the sculpture is. Picking a winner from a group of the world’s best sand sculptors isn’t easy in Martineau’s eyes.

“It’s really difficult to judge,” Martineau said. “These are top sculptures, some of which have been making these for upwards of 30 years. It’s incredible and intricate work.”

Sculptors from around the world have travelled to Hampton Beach in the past to show off their skills, including artists from India and the Netherlands.

“We usually get people from all over the world, but it’s been a little difficult with the pandemic,” Martineau said.

Some international sculptors from past competitions are still returning this year, along with a few people who are new to the scene. Experience aside, Martineau stressed the talent these artists possess.

“They’re an amazing group of people, and they have such an incredible talent,” Martineau said. “They all have their own style, just like any painter. I’m at the point where I’ve been to the competition so many times that I can tell who did which sculpture just by looking at them.”

One particular sculptor that Martineau can always pick out of the crowd is Abe Waterman, whose unique personality and out-of-the-box thinking shines through his art.

Other notable contestants include Greg J. Grady, whose father started the Hampton Sand Sculpting competition.

Greg Grady, the founder and current organizer, has been sculpting with sand for over 30 years. After participating in sand sculpting competitions around the world, Grady convinced the commission to hold a competition in Hampton.

Grady’s son grew up watching his dad sculpt with the pros, and learned from the best at a young age. In this case, the saying “like father like son” rings true.

“I remember his junior prom,” Grady said. “He had the choice to go to prom or go to Atlantic City with dad to do some sand sculpting, and he chose Atlantic City.”

Grady’s son was awarded with fifth place in last year’s competition, securing himself a spot for this year.

Though the sand sculpting competition is a big hit at Hampton Beach, the art form has been turning heads in other countries for years.

“Thirty years ago this was an up and coming thing in the Netherlands and on its way to the U.S.,” Grady said.

Martineau says the competitive side of sand sculpting has stretched as far as India.

“There’s a huge sand sculpting competition in India. The sand is very different out there. It’s a little orange and clay-like,” she said.

It may seem like an enormous amount of support is required to keep these sand sculptures from collapsing, but Martineau assures that sculpting is as simple as it seems.

“There’s nothing special in there that keeps them together,” Martineau said. “It just takes water and sand, and an incredibly creative mind.”

The fun begins on Aug. 27, when 200 tons of sand from a local quarry will be transported to Hampton Beach for the sculptors to pound up. According to Martineau, the sand at Hampton is too porous for the sculptors to work with and will not be sturdy enough when compacted and molded. Once combined with water, the imported fine-grain sand gets pounded and molded into something special.

“There is no glue in the sand, but the sculptors are allowed to spray their sculptures with an adhesive glaze so they stay up longer,” Martineau said. “It’s kind of like an M&M; it’s soft on the inside, but the hard outside is what keeps it together.”

The sponsor site made with 100 tons of sand will be ready to view by Monday, Aug. 31, followed by a master group carve on Sept. 1. The solo carving competition will begin on Sept. 3, and judging and people’s choice award voting will take place on Sept. 5, followed by an awards ceremony at 7 p.m.

Sculptures will be illuminated for nighttime viewing, and the window for viewing will likely be shorter this year.

“Normally they stay up for a couple weeks, but I think it’ll only be an extra week this year,” Martineau said.

—Shane Jozitis