Date Of Visit: June 23, 2019

Location: Hampton Beach, 115 Ocean Blvd, Hampton, NH

Hours: The beach is accessible daily from dawn until dusk

Cost: Free

Parking: Hampton Beach offers a variety of parking options.  If you’re lucky enough to get a parking spot in the main parking area it is $2 an hour during the summer.  There are also additional lots that range from 5 to 20 dollars for the day depending on when you arrive.  See link for additional parking info: Parking Info

Universally Accessible: Yes

Dog Friendly: Yes but dogs are not allowed on the beach during the summer

Websites: Hampton Beach 19th Annual Master Sand Sculpting Classic

Hampton Beach Master Sand Sculpting Classic Facebook Page

Hampton Beach

Highlights: sand sculptures

Summary: Ten artists converged upon Hampton Beach to sculpt pieces of work.

Sand sculptors from all over North America showed off their talents during a two day sand sculpting festival at Hampton Beach, New Hampshire.  If you missed the event but you want to see the works of art in person, don’t fret. The sand sculptures should be up for a while, or at least until Mother Nature says differently.  They will be lit up at night until June 27.

In the past, I have spent the second day of the festival at the beach watching and photographing the sculptors at work.  However, this was not possible this year.  I thought I would head off to the park early Sunday instead.  The beach was already packed when I arrived at 7:30 (don’t people sleep in anymore?).  But, I was able to get shots of the finished products and a few of the visitors at the beach.

So, with further delay, the winners were…drum roll please…

The winners, which were selected Saturday, June 22, and runner-ups are listed below.

First place went to Melineige Beauregard of Quebec, Canada for “Breaking Out.”  Melineige’s sculpture represents people breaking out of our old habits.  The child in the back of the sculpture represents our “inner child” breaking out.

Karen Fralich of Toronto, Canada, snagged second place with “Samurai.”  Karen said she saw a photo of a female samurai while she was looking through old photos with her mother and that was the impetus for this work.  You may notice needle like objects protruding from the sculpture below and in some of the other sand sculptures.  These are meant to keep birds from perching on the sand sculptures.

Third place and also the winner of the “People’s Choice” (in which the visitors at the festival were allowed to vote for their favorite sculpture) and the “Sculptor’s Choice” awards went to Abe Waterman of Prince Edward Island for “Outside In.”   He said his sculpture was about how we perceive others and how others perceive us.

“Life Goes On” by David Andrews  of Wisconsin placed fourth in the competition.  Like many of the artists at the competition, this was not his first rodeo at Hampton Beach.  Andrews participated in last year’s competition as well.  David said his sculpture was a tree that grew in the remains of a wreckage.

Fifth place went to another Hampton sand sculptor regular, Greg Grady of New Hampshire for “Ask. Seek. Knock.”  Greg said his sculpture was about a person seeking answers and reaching out for a spirit and seeking answers to his problems.

The runner ups were still impressive.  It almost seems unfair to have to pick one particular sculpture for first place since they all have so much beauty and it is such a subjective process.

“Connected” by Chris Guinto of Key West, Florida, is about a bird flying away from tree it is connected to.

“Plastic” by Carl D Jara of Cleveland, Ohio, explained that he had been thinking of plastic a lot before he planned this sculpture but his thoughts about the idea were negative.  He decided to think more positively and this sculpture was the result.

Marc Lepire from Quebec, Canada, who works not only with sand but also carves ice and wood, sculpted “No Fear.”  He said his “dark side” came out while was constructing his piece.

Dan Belcher of Saint Louis, Missouri, sculpted “Hemisphere.”  He said that by having a happy face and  a sad face in the sculpture, the sculpture shows how we can be a mixture of good and bad.  The sculpture depicts our contrasts.

Justin Gordon of Massachusetts created “Hulk 3-D.”  According to Justin, the sculpture shows a 3-d like image.  By making one hand bigger than the other, Justin tried to show motion in the sculpture.  He also said everyone seems to be interested in super hero movies and we’re all looking for a super hero these days.  So the sculpture seemed appropriate.

There were also a few cute visitors to view the sand sculptures.

Missy, who will turn 9 in September, is a Golden/Chow mix.

Chopper is a 3 year old Staffordshire mix.

Cody, a 7 year old Maltese, got around in style at the beach.