The Ninth Annual Sand Castle Contest took place on August 8, 2008, at The Cove beach in Cape May. Sand sculptors of all ages competed in different classes for cool prizes including Can You Dig It sand tools and gift cards donated by local merchants. Spectators were greeted by a humongous sand castle sculpted by Matt Long, the contest organizer and creator of Can You Dig It Sand Tools:
The secret to sucessful sand sculpting lies in the ratio of water to sand. First there's the pound-up, where sand is shoveled into large wooden forms the night before a contest. Water is added and the mixture is pounded down every few inches to form the right consistency. Buckets with and without bottoms, shovels, and plastic knives are used. Some sculptors use molds, but the best ones are bottomless so that exess water can drip out.
Many of us specialize in drippy castles, where wet sand is dribbled between the fingers. Although this technique is not frequently used in contests, it can be used for trees and bushes. This year's Cape May contest featured an amazing complicated drippy castle that did win a prize.
The crowd favorite of this year's contest was an marvelous collaboration called Frosty vs. Wally, depicting a snowball fight between a snowman ...
and a walrus ...
each behind their respective walls. Camelot was there,
and even Yankee Stadium!
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