A handful more visitors toured through a number of impressive sand sculptures during this year's Parksville Beach Festival, compared to 2025. (Image Credit: File photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

til next year

‘A bittersweet day:’ attendance up as annual Parksville Beach Festival ends

Aug 17, 2026 | 11:07 AM

PARKSVILLE — A slight increase in visitors year-over-year has organizers of the Parksville Beach Festival optimistic about what’s next.

Volunteers representing a number of local community groups counted 119,480 visitors through the gates of this year’s sand sculpting exhibition, a central part of the festival, a marginal increase over the 119,092 who attended last year.

Festival president Cheryl Dill told NanaimoNewsNOW the Monday after the festival always marks “a bittersweet day” for organizers.

“We take the next few months to debrief and make sure that we have some time to look at how we did, look at the statistics, the revenues coming in, and how much we can give back to our gate ambassadors, and we go from there.”

Over the last 26 years, the festival has redirected over $1.2 million back into the Oceanside community by providing grants to the non-profit groups who worked the gates of the sand sculpting competition.

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It’s expected twenty-four groups will share in festival revenue, with the exact figure to be confirmed in the fall.

Dill said their new location, adjacent to the beach volleyball courts and now in its second year, continues to serve its purpose to ensure the festival remains open and available to all.

“What’s great about the site is the accessibility. It’s very close to the large gravel parking lot that has the most parking spots…you don’t have pedestrians and traffic crossing at the same time.

Bulldozers are due early this week to collapse the sculptures and begin remediating the site.

First, a group of visually impaired people from the surrounding community will get an opportunity Monday afternoon to come in and experience the artworks by touch.

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by Alex Rawnsley

‘A bittersweet day:’ attendance up as annual Parksville Beach Festival ends

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