25th Annual Sand Sculpting Contest

By Elise Feinstein

It was such a beautiful sunny Saturday morning on August 15, 2015 in Coney Island, for beach goers to spend their day along the shore, displaying their creative talents. Everyone had a blast being outside seeing such detailed, realistic work of the numerous sand sculptures. Many people came with their cameras taking pictures and talking to the sculptors.There was music, dancing, food and giveaways. It was nice to see the community all come together to support this successful event by Astella Development, Brooklyn Community Services, and the sponsors which included Dunkin Donuts. This family-friendly event helped raised money from the Superstorm Hurricane Sandy to help and support families.

I had the privilege of meeting and talking to the contestants and viewing their work. Cassundra Wright, sculpted “Pac Man eating the Ghost.” She states this is her 4th year competing and each year she gets better and better.” Upon talking with the other contestants, I was able to catch up to this year’s winners Rich Demand and Tim O’Keefe who sculpted ” Spirits of the Sea.” Rich explained how they came up with the idea. He explains it as follows ” We started off with 3 forms to create 3 towers, we put a window here and put another window there, And we just let our imaginations go from there. The smiley cat face was actually a mistake. “As Rich explains “I was forming an arch like that, a part fell out and looked like cat ears.” I did the same thing on the other side and I said, you know what I came this far and I decided to make a couple of eyeballs and it stayed there for a while”. In an hour later I realized it really needed a smiley face and i just added the mouth”. Congratulations To Rich Demand and Tim O’Keefe for winning 1st place for this years Coney Island 25th Annual Sand Sculpture Contest. Rich Demand came in 3rd place last year in 2014, and 1st place in 2012.