Legendary Parksville sand sculpting & beach festival underway

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“We really love that selection of ‘Beauties and Beasts’ because of that level of creativity that that will evoke for our master sculptors, they’re quite imaginative and we always look forward to see what they actually come up with,” Dill told NanaimoNewsNOW.

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Legendary Parksville sand sculpting & beach festival underway

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Last year’s theme was Circus by the Sea. (Image Credit: Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Fourteen soloists and eight doubles teams are competing this year, representing Canada, United States of America, the Netherlands, Colombia, Czechia, Russia and Australia.

The enclosed competition area opens for public viewing on Friday afternoon at 2 p.m.

Thirty hours of building time is available for the competitors through Sunday at 2 p.m.

On Thursday, competitors spent the day ‘pounding up’ their plots of sand, with soloists allotted 10 yards and doubles issued 15 yards of specialty screened sand.

Pound-up day is crucial, Dill said, in establishing solid bases to sculpt properly.

“It’s much like building a building, you need forms and you need a lot of pressure on that sand, lots of water for those to come together and not crack when you take those forms off.”

Dill said new to the competition this year is a change to how judging will be done for an added level of fairness.

“The judges will not know whose sculpture belongs to which sculptor, that’s a new process for us, we just wanted to add that in; it’s consistent with Revere Beach’s competition in Boston.”

Awards will be announced on-site early Sunday evening, with NanaimoNewsNOW providing an overview with pictures the following morning.

This is the second year the sand sculpting site is located in a roomier site behind the curling club, less restricted from the hub of activity between the playground and boardwalk.

The five-and-a-half week Parksville Beach Festival typically draws in the range of 110,000 to 120,000 people inside the sand sculpting competition area.

A suggested donation of $5 per person is recommended, which covers expenses and supplies around $75,000 annually for dozens of Oceanside-area non-profit organizations.

Daily viewing to enjoy the sculptures is available from 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The sand sculpting competition has been held annually since 1982 in Parksville, with the exception of pandemic shutdowns in 2020 and 2021.

The festival, which includes various forms of entertainment and activities in Community Park, runs until Aug. 16.

More information is available here.

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