Imperial Beach Sandcastle Competition & Festival Kick Off

What to Know

  • Imperial Beach Sun &S ea Festival runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Seacoast Drive from Portwood Pier Plaza to Dunes Park
  • Best time to view the sandcastles is during judging from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
  • At noon there will be a kids sand-building competition near Dunes Park.

Imperial Beach kicked off its annual Sun and Sea Festival Friday.

The biggest draw every year, of course, is the sandcastle competition with teams from all around the country are competing to make the best sand sculpture.

Some of the master builders were out on the beach Friday afternoon gathering sand and water from the ocean.

Bill Pavlacka and his Sand Castle Man team have picked up first place more than once in the annual competition.

He sketched up some shapes and once the piles are created, he will sit down and sketch more specific images to focus the project.

β€œThis is the best sand I’ve used out here actually,” he said. β€œWe should all have beautiful sculptures tomorrow afternoon.”

β€œI enjoy the creativity and to push my limits a little bit. Each time I try to push it a little more,” he said.

When the sand doesn’t cooperate, and part of the vision collapses, he just goes back to the drawing board and tries to figure out how to incorporate the changes into his finished piece.

The free two-day event continues Saturday with a big parade in the morning.

There will also be lots of fun activities, live music, and some great street food.

Click here for parking information.

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