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An array of one-of-a-kind, larger-than-life, hand-carved sand sculptures are slowly eroding away, into the shore outside the largest beach bar in Texas. Each day, they lose their original form a little more, but the love behind them remains unchanged.
These temporary structures being reclaimed by the South Padre Island beach are remnants of sand sculptures crafted by world class carvers from around the globe. The artists gather every year to compete in Sandcastle Days, an annual tradition on the Island, founded by sand-master Lucinda Weirenga, the pioneering woman behind Sandy Feet’s Sandcastle Lessons.
Weirenga, also known as “Sandy-feet,” is the visionary responsible for the world’s one and only sandcastle village, and she says despite the “unstoppable rain,” Sandcastle Days 2026, held Oct. 2-4, was just as beautiful, creative and inspirational, as the years before.
Sandyfeet remembers the smell of rain filling the air as her carvers went to work bringing to life their visions of sand.
“We could smell the rain coming,” she recalled later from her cozy, and dry, Island bungalow.
The consecutive days of rain may have prompted a schedule change — pushing the contest part of the celebration ahead of other festivities — but it did not dampen the spirits of the creators. With a spray-glue-solution, and sheer determination, they carved through the downpour.
“We did our best,” Sandyfeet said. “And some things, a lot of things, survived the first onslaught of rain.”
Her nephew and pupil, Emerson Weirenga Schreiner, was one of this year’s carvers. A familiar face at Sandcastle Days, he explained that the unfortunate weather changed his carving strategy.
“You want to have things finished and sealed before the weather gets there, so a lot of times that can mean working in smaller sections, like having a small section complete that you can then seal, and then hopefully not have to worry about it as much,” he said. “Maybe everything is destroyed out there now, but at least for the duration of the festival, most of the competition sculptures survived.”
The logo sculpture, featuring popular shops, bars, eateries, and other Island businesses, took the most damage.
Schreiner says he got lucky, “in a sense.” His sculpture — a couple, facing away from each other, “having words,” as Sandyfeet put it — was one of the few that held up the best.
“I really took sealing it very, very seriously,” he said. “I sealed it many, many times because I knew the rain was coming.”
His creation, a rift between lovers, was one part of a broader, unplanned theme among the sculptures — different phases of relationships.
One carving featured lovers kissing, created by Joaquin Cortez of Stephanville, Texas. Another, by Isabelle Gasse of Canada, featured a man and a woman, looking up, back to back, with the crown of their heads meeting, and an impressive, almost perfectly circular, hole carved right through the middle. Her creation was titled, “You Can Only See As Far As You Think.”
Sandyfeet observed that the theme was reflected in the personal lives of the individual carvers.
“I do see it in the sculptors,” she said. “They are younger than me, and they are still finding their way and finding partners for themselves. Maybe less successfully than they would like. I’m not sure, but you know, I think there was a lot of sculpting from the heart.”
Sandyfeet’s own relationship is enduring a journey at this time. Her partner, Jose Sanchez, a tradition-bearing storyteller, is currently undergoing chemotherapy, and had to miss out on the festival, leaving his yearly SandCamp responsibilities to other carvers.
Last July, he fell while walking one of the dogs from their impressive pack, which reside with Sanchez and Sandyfeet in their bungalow. While at the hospital with a broken hip, doctors found a neuroendocrine tumor in his bone marrow. For the last few months, he’s been weathering treatment with conviction.
“I’ve had this type of cancer before, twice,” he wrote on his Facebook in late July. “I have great confidence that whatever the full details show, I am in a good position to live through, and likely beyond, whatever treatments I choose.”
Sandyfeet said Jose was greatly missed this year throughout the festival. Despite his ailments, he served the tradition as well as he could.
“He still managed to rally to cook a couple of meals for the sculptors, and to encourage me to do my best,” she said. “Jose does a lot of good for my head. He was there doing good for my head when I’m tired and frustrated, and I have a lot of things coming at me all at once. And he just handled everything.”
And while Sanchez uplifts his Sandyfeet, a woman he describes as “strong, creative, independent, and extraordinary,” she returns the favor to lovers of art, sand and fine crafts, on the Island and beyond, by ensuring them a place at the tip-of-Texas.
At Sandcastle Days, the prize money is split equally among competitors, “so they go into it knowing they don’t have to necessarily please a judge — they need to please themselves,” Sandyfeet explained.
And because people crave a winner, she gives the people what they want. The master sculptors judge each other, based on technical strength, creativity, and “wow-factor.”
This year, in the masters category, Abe Waterman secured first place with his creation “The Butterfly Effect.” followed by “Don’t Poke Me,” by Joon Park, which was severely impacted by the storm. Grasse’s creation rounded up the winners in third place.
Today, what remains of the creations is a bit abstract, changed forever by the storms. Inherently, sand art is ephemeral, and yet many carvers, like Sandyfeet, find the medium consuming their lives.
“The fact that it’s temporary is a big part of what makes it beautiful,” said Schreiner. “Just being able to let it go is a part of the beautiful thing about it.”