Sands of time: Celebrated competition returns to N.B. beach
A 35 year tradition on New Brunswick’s New River Beach has returned after taking a three-year hiatus due to COVID-19.
The provincial park’s sand sculpture competition has become one of Canada’s most famous, buoyed by its Bay of Fundy location. The world’s highest tides enforce the competition’s time limit.
“There will be lots of big lumps tomorrow where the sand castles used to be,” said Matthew McFarlane, who was part of one the first teams to register for Saturday’s event. “This is actually my 11th time doing this competition at this beach.”
About 35 teams signed up for Saturday’s event, and several were repeat participants.
“When I was 12, I actually got third place,” says Ingrid Skodje. “I’m trying to bring that back.”
“It’s a fantastic tradition. We have such a beautiful beach here. I think it’s the most beautiful in New Brunswick and probably on the eastern coast. The tides are just incredible. It’s so phenomenal to see so many people here.”
Park officials estimated Saturday over 10,000 people were on New River Beach.
Saturday’s sculpture designs included traditional sand castles, a living room couch, and multiple sea creatures. There was at least one homage to Crystal, a 10-foot-long white shark whose GPS tracker was detected several kilometres off the coast on July 11.
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