ABOUT THE CONTEST
For the past 83 years, the Great Sand Sculpture Contest has brought
together Long Beach and its surrounding communities to celebrate in our
communities greatest natural asset: the beach.
This year, we're so thrilled to host this traditional communty event, complete with sculpture masterpieces of world-class professional sand artists, a semi-professional sculpting category, community competition and more. The contest is the longest standing of it’s kind in the nation and continues to be a staple of our community history and future.
This year's festival will be a family party on the beach - complete with remarkable sand sculptures, a food court, vendor gallery, live music, kid zone and bar on the beach.
A percentage of proceeds of this year's event will be donatd to Long Beach Ronald McDonald House.
This year's event will feature food and goods vendors - why not be one of the lucky ones selected? Vendor spots are limited! Apply to become a food or goods vendor and don't miss out on your opportunity to share your product with hundreds of summer beach-loving families, friends and community members.
Parking will be first-come, first-serve basis by the beach parking lots. All beach parking is metered and can be paid for day-of. If you are not able to park in the lot, you will be able to find street parking in a nearby location. We recommend arriving earlier in the day or taking public transit to avoid parking hassles!
This year, our primary professional and semi-professional sculpture gallery will be immediately off the Granada Beach Road Ramp, which IS handicap accessible. Elements of the competition, including the kid zone, vendor gallery, bar, live music and the community competition are unfortunately positioned on the sand which may make wheelchair access difficult.
Both days of the Sand Sculpture competition are a lot of fun to join in for! On Saturday, you'll be able to see one finished master sculpture and the work of completing the others in progress. On Sunday, you'll see our full community competition in swing as well as be able to see the finished works of our professional and semi-professional divisions.
