The sculptures may get washed away, but the fun lives on!
Sun-seekers and beach bums gathered on Coney Island Beach at high noon on Aug. 19 for the 27th-annual Coney Island Sand Sculpting Contest, a free event that drew novices and long-time builders alike — many of whom return each year for the fun challenge it presents, one competitor said.
“We enjoy the challenge, we enjoy going, we enjoy the competition,” said Frank Russo, a Long Island resident who has been competing for the past decade. “We’re competitive, and we’ve been doing it for a long time.”
This year, Russo snagged second place in the “group adults” category after he and his cousin, Joe Slovoda, rebuilt their seven-foot-tall Harry Potter-inspired sand castle in just two hours after the first version completely collapsed. Slovoda, who has taken part in the contest for the past seven years, said this is the second time in five years that one of their creations has collapsed, and he thinks the wind contributed to the downfall.
“It was a little bit windier than normal, and it just happens. It’s the second time it has happened to us doing the contest,” he said. “It’s just sand and water, there’s no magic.”
Participants register on site, and have four hours to craft their sandy creations. They compete for recognition in categories including single adult, group adult, single child, family, and people’s choice — a new category this year.
Slovoda said that he and Russo have six kids between them, whom they have been bringing to the contest for the past decade. He said the annual event is a great one for families, which has kept them coming back for years — not to mention the special place the beach holds in their hearts.
“It’s all family-oriented and we’re cousins, we’re related, we hang out a lot, and we always brought the kids to the beach,” Slovoda said. “We always went to the beach as kids growing up, so the beach has always been part of our lives.”
