By JACQI LEYVA-HILL
Special to the PARADE
Sand, music, family activities and a Saturday night drone show are among the attractions visitors can expect when Sandcastle Days returns Oct. 2-5 to South Padre Island.
Clayton Brashear, owner of Clayton’s Beach Bar & Grill, said this year’s Sandcastle Days will offer entertainment for the entire family, with the signature sand sculptures at the center of the event.
“There is fun for the whole family,” Brashear said.
In addition to the sand sculptures, Brashear said visitors can expect a Mercado, water slides for children, live music and a drone show Saturday night.
The beachfront setting at Clayton’s provides a natural backdrop for an event built around turning sand into elaborate works of art. Brashear said the beach is the ideal environment for Sandcastle Days and gives spectators the opportunity to watch sculptors work on their creations.
The sand sculptures remain the centerpiece of the celebration, giving visitors an opportunity to see artists transform an everyday part of the South Padre Island landscape into detailed works that draw spectators throughout the event.
Lucinda “Sandy Feet” Wierenga, who helped launch Sandcastle Days with her sand-sculpting mentor Amazin’ Walter, said the event began with early support from the South Padre Island Merchants Association and the city. Although organizers initially had little money to attract professional sculptors, she said the sculpting community embraced the opportunity for a new event and artists were drawn by the experience organizers created for them.
Wierenga said professional sand sculpting has changed considerably over the years. Sculptors now work with prepared mounds of Rio Grande river sand, water hoses, forms and protective windscreen sprays rather than digging their own piles and hauling buckets of Gulf water. She said the finer details generally begin taking shape Friday, when visitors can watch artists work up close. Looking back on the event’s 38-year history, Wierenga said she is grateful to the Island business community, the town, Clayton Brashear and everyone who kept the event going through downpours, high tides, red tides, the broken causeway and the pandemic. “I hope to be around to see the 50th,” she said.
Wierenga also said Friends of Animal Rescue, or FOAR, will sell T-shirts for the event, and that surfing dogs will be featured as a photo opportunity as part of the demonstration sculpture.
Brashear said he expects thousands of attendees during the weekend contest.
The size of the anticipated crowd reflects the continued appeal of an event that has become closely associated with South Padre Island. Rather than limiting the weekend to the sculpting competition itself, organizers are pairing the sand art with activities designed to provide visitors with additional entertainment throughout the event.
Families with children will have the water slides, while other visitors can spend time exploring the Mercado, listening to live music or watching the sculptors at work. Saturday evening will add another element when the planned drone show takes to the sky.
For Brashear, however, the lasting appeal of Sandcastle Days goes beyond the entertainment lineup.
He said the event has remained popular because Sandcastle Days is something unique to South Padre Island and captures the carefree experience many people associate with spending time at the beach.
It is also an opportunity, he said, for adults to reconnect with the simple pleasures of childhood.
That feeling — sand underfoot, time spent outdoors and the freedom to enjoy the beach without worrying about being too grown up — is part of what Brashear believes continues to bring people back.
His invitation to visitors is a simple one: remember childhood, “go barefoot and be a kid again.”
For families, residents and visitors looking for a distinctly South Padre Island experience, Sandcastle Days will once again combine sand art, music and beachfront entertainment with an atmosphere built around having fun by the Gulf.