Ever since I learned that there’s a train in Boston that literally goes to “Wonderland,” I’ve been looking for a reason to make the journey to the end of the Blue line. That reason came when I heard about the 2023 International Sand Sculpting Festival at Revere Beach.
Googling the event showed me dozens of stunningly gorgeous sand creations — all much bigger and more beautiful than I was expecting and towering over their creators and the beach behind them. Revere’s International Sand Sculpting Festival bills itself as the largest free event in Massachusetts, drawing thousands of people to America’s first public beach.
The 19th annual festival this year celebrated “90 years of Kong” over three days — and featured giant King Kong sculptures. According to the festival website, 15 sand sculptors from across the world would compete for $28,000 in prize money. In addition to the sand sculptures, the event would feature food and local vendors, live entertainment (including a performance by the Blue Man Group), exercise classes, a beer garden, and fireworks.
It was in horror, therefore, that I watched torrential gusts of wind, rain, and lightning blow through Massachusetts on Saturday, ahead of my visit. Despite the fact that the weather was perfect when I woke up on Sunday morning, I braced myself for a disappointing visit, one in which all the castles had been washed away and my journey was for nothing.
I shouldn’t have worried. Stepping off at the Wonderland stop, I was swept into an excited crowd all walking past me toward the beach. Crossing over the bridge to the boardwalk, I saw the row of food trucks, vendors, and visitors all excitedly eating, drinking, and snapping photos of the sand castles on the beach. Music was blasting from a mobile stage, where exercise class instructors were calling out moves to an energetic, dancing crowd on the sand. A dog and its human wore matching sunglasses and bopped along to the beat.
Even though the festival was busy, it was possible to push gently to the front of the crowd and get a good look at all the castles, and even stand on the barrier wall for a better view. I did have a twinge of disappointment to see that while the main elements of the structures still stood, many of their finer details had been washed away and one or two were completely destroyed. I also wasn’t expecting them to be behind so many barriers blocking my vision and access, although I understood their necessity in protecting the sculptures.
While it was disappointing not to see the castles in their full glory, it was still possible to see the majority of the works. The King Kong sculptures (one behind the central stage, the other an interactive photo opportunity) were particularly well preserved. I learned later that a little rain actually helps the castles, as the sculptures are made of sand and water. Many artists also take additional precautions against bad weather by coating their creations with a glue-water mixture, (90 percent water, 5 percent glue) to protect them.
When I think of sand sculpting, I think of castles and buckets and templated, geometric towers. The sculptures at the Revere Beach International Sand Sculpting Competition were more closely aligned with figures from Renaissance paintings or scenes from fantastical, otherworldly tableaus.
The level of minute and delicate detail in each was equivalent to what you might expect to see carved into a marble statue in a museum, and somehow transformed the sand it used into fabric, scales, skin, or hair, depending on what the sculpture was intended to depict.
It seems unfair to attempt to rank or compare them, since the weather left only their outlines and I therefore gravitated most strongly to those that were left the most intact, but I was most drawn to those which seemed to work and considered the sand and their surroundings. Karen Fralich’s piece “Steampunk Fish” and Abe Waterman’s mermaid-like “Serenitude,” acknowledged the beach and ocean in their themes, and, of course, Matt Deibert’s piece “The Sandman” featured a Sandman literally constructed of sand.
Perhaps it was because of the day that I saw it, when so many of the castles were beginning to crumple and disintegrate, but I think my personal favorite was Belgian sculptor Hanneke Supply’s piece entitled, “Trapped in your own mind mind the way out is through the heart,” which featured a realistic-looking human heart and was crafted to give the impression that the heart was cracking all of the sand around it.
As I wandered through the festival, I noted the truly great curation of food trucks and sampled some of the best free food options I’ve ever gotten at an event (notably, the Driscoll truck’s efreshing cups of fresh berries and ice cream). I also saw people walking around while drinking straight out of coconuts and sipping Pina Coladas straight out of full pineapples, but the $20 price tag dissuaded me from buying my own.
The only thing that could have made the festival better were some beach games, or perhaps a build-your-own castle section led by an artist to allow for some community participation and a chance to speak with some of the sculptors, whom I had been hoping to see at work.
Adrienne Maguire, who sits on the event’s board and has been involved since she was the director of recreation for Revere, explained that the idea for the event began when a sand sculptor was commissioned to create a single piece for a Celebrate Revere event. Since then, the event has grown every year, and they’re already busily planning for next year, which will be the 20th anniversary.
While there were no sculptors on the beach when I was there, Maguire noted that the preparations for the event begin on the beach nearly two weeks in advance as hundreds of tons of sand get trucked in and the artists begin their work. The event organizers try to leave the sculptures up for a while after the event, as well; the castles eventually have to be taken down for the safety of beachgoers.
Some of the sculptors are sad to see their sculptures get destroyed so fast, Maguire mused. “Like any kid knows — when you build a sand sculpture, the tide will come, and the tide will go.”
“They’re used to that, that’s what happens,” she said. “They make their most beautiful piece, and then they move on to the next one.”
Where I’m headed next: The Moth StorySLAM: Hair at the Peabody Essex Museum.
