The transformation will happen between Friday and Sunday during the 17th Annual Texas Sandfest.
Drawing more than 100,000 people last year, the event features a heated but friendly competition between the sculptors as well as live music, food, and arts and crafts vendors. There also will be free sand sculpture lessons and an amateur sand sculpture contest.
“There are only a few events unique to South Texas and this is one of them,” said Jayme Jeffries, festival spokeswoman and Texas Sandfest board member. “People come from all over the world to see it.”
This year’s 18 master sculptors are from across the U.S., Canada and Europe. Eight will participate in a solo competition while the other 10 will compete in a duo event.
To create their masterpieces, the sculptors are allowed to use only sand, water and tools that require no power. The winning sculptors receive cash prizes and the first-place winner of the solo competition gets an invitation to the World Championship Sand Sculpting contest on Missouri Avenue Beach in Atlantic City.
“These people are not beach bums,” said Betty Crawford, a longtime Sandfest board member. “They are true artists.”
Most of the sculptures they create are the size of a small room and stand more than one story high, she said. Some reflect scenes from real-life while others focus more on fantasy.
Crawford said one of her favorite sculptures was of an older man sitting on a stack of books reading to a group of children lying on their tummies near his feet. Another was a demo that used 250 tons of sand and reflected all of that year’s Sandfest sponsors.
“The sculptures are truly amazing,” she said. “They are a sight to see.”