Even on a blustery day, scores of people visited Hampton Beach to shop, swim and admire a series of towering sand sculptures. The annual Hampton Beach Sand Sculpting Classic brought artists from across the U.S. and Canada together for friendly competition, using a notoriously fickle medium.
The sculptures ranged in theme, from an intricate angel, to a skull and an homage to a former pet cat. The sculptures were ranked by a panel of judges and the public got a chance to weigh in for the People’s Choice Award.
Loretta Casale fought off the wind as she looked out at the sculptures. She traveled from East Kingston to enjoy a day on the Seacoast.
"I think they're all marvelous. I don't know how they can do it,” Casale said. “I had trouble with just a bucket of sand when I was a child to make something out of it, so it's pretty good."
Abe Waterman from Prince Edward Island, Canada, took home the first place award with his piece, “Empty,” and Melineige Beauregard from Montreal won the People’s Choice Award for her sculpture, “Rebirth of Phoenix.”
