Sand sculptors go way beyond castles

HOLDEN BEACH, N.C. -- Holden Beach commissioners said they were looking for originality, creativity and the like in judging the island's first sand-sculpting contest Wednesday, and in the end, the two works they chose as winners also were the most representative of the town.

Scott Donaldson of Carmichael, Pa., got one of the two bags of gifts donated by Beach Mart for his church-on-a-hill sculpture, reminiscent of Holden Beach Chapel, a center of island life. Scott Bogle of Salisbury, N.C., won the other prize for a sculpture of a woman sunning facedown on the sand.

The contest drew 14 sculptures, some of which weren't begun until a half-hour before the judging. The event was only advertised locally through beach cottage rental agencies and the island's website, and the entrants said they thought of an idea a day or two before the contest and went with it. That gave the contest a different air than some in larger destinations, including Myrtle Beach, where prizes can be considerable, and contestants travel a circuit of contests showing off their skills.

Those sculpting sand Wednesday on Holden Beach were vacationers on the island looking for a different way to pass a morning on the beach.

"We were bored. We decided to do something," said Cameron Smith of Richmond, Va., working with his family on a sculpture of a man fighting to get his legs out of the mouth of a hammerhead shark.

Lauren Thompson and Matt Sterling of Kansas City said they decided to build a sandcastle Tuesday night. After searching the Internet for hints, they said they drove to Wal-Mart in Shallotte at midnight to get a 5-gallon bucket that they felt was critical to their creation. The bucket, Sterling said, allowed the couple to properly mix sand and sea water to create a mixture that would be both pliable and durable.

Bogle's creation was next to a saltwater alligator chasing a fish that was the creation of his 6-year-old daughter, Abby, and her cousin, Danile Bolden, of Asheville, N.C.

Donaldson said his church was meant to look like one near his home south of Pittsburgh.

"We just came down to have fun," he said of his family, some of whom helped him intermittently, while others sculpted a sea turtle and babies nearby.

He said he works in construction, which may have helped the proportional reality of his sculpture. Rows of houses projected from the hill along the road that wound from the church down the hill.

He said he'd done similar sand sculptures in other visits to Holden Beach, but none were as detailed as that he created Wednesday.

The contest was the idea of Amanda Rose, a recent parks and recreation management graduate of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and an intern at the town this summer, who said she thought it would be a good way to promote the island town.

Rose is among the applicants for the town's first parks and recreation director, said Commissioner Sandy Miller. But she wasn't giving Rose any extra points for her brainstorm. She said Rose would be judged the same as all the applicants.

The field of contestants was international.

Paul Fehlner of Basil, Switzerland, and his daughter Andie probably moved more sand than any other contestants. They dug into the sand to sculpt a sofa and chair in front of a television that was showing a Sponge Bob episode.

Fehlner, who moved to Switzerland with his family from New Jersey, said the idea came from depressions along the beach washed out by the tide.

Smith, like other contestants, said he didn't really care if he won.