Large Crowd for Sandcastle Days

On October 5th through the 8th the 35th Annual Sandcastle Days was held on South Padre Island at Clayton’s Beach Bar and Grill

Thirty-four years ago, South Padre residents and master sand sculptors Walter Mcdonald known as “Amazing Walter” and Lucinda Wierenga known as “Sandy Feet” started Sandcastle Days to demonstrate the magical sculpting qualities of South Padre Island sand and the critical importance of protecting our beautiful coastal shores. This free event has grown over the years from a local celebration to a qualifying event for the World Championships of Sand Sculpting where over 30,000 fans come to watch the magic of the sand come alive. This year’s event had an unexpected guest as the Rio Grande Valley had its first significant cold front of the season after a long hot summer. The front arrived on the first day of the event. All sculptors worked through the rain and wind but that did not deter any of the fans or sculptors from enjoying their day at the beach. This year marked a new location for Sandcastle Days and there was live music, art booths and food to enjoy.

There were sculptors all the way from Canada, Holland, Latvia, Netherlands, Russia plus many more. This year’s third-place winner went to Marie Line Gagne with her sculptor named “The Lovers”. Second-place and people’s choice award went to Karlis Ile with his sculptor named “Grandma”. And first-place was awarded to Russian sculptor Ilya Filimontsev with his sculptor named “Mermaid.”

Ilya Filimontsev mentioned- “After studying at the art college in Moscow, I worked as a Jeweler/goldsmith designing and making jewelry for 7 years. While working as a jeweler I started making ice sculptures and found I enjoyed the combination of traveling and sculpting. I quit my jewelry job and continued to study sculpture for 6 more years at the Moscow State Academic Art Institute of Surikov. I have been sculpting sand since 2005 while traveling all over the world. I have 17 years [of] experience making sculptures from sand, snow and ice and I have taken part in more than 150 sand sculpture events around the world- but this is the first time in Texas.”

The Los Fresnos News reached out to Lucinda Wierenga who mentioned “Even though the cold front came in on the first day of the event everything went smoothly this year.” Even though Lucinda wasn’t able to finish her sculpture this year due to an illness the Los Fresnos News would like to acknowledge both she and Walter for all their hard work and dedication throughout the years.