August 20, 2013
By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON. The city announced the winner of the sand castle contest – an event that drew more contestants than last year.
The event seems to attract families that burrow away in the sand with everyone either oiling sand or pouring water and warily watching what the other contestants are doing. There were 5 adults, 8 children, 9 families, and 3 youth contestants pre-registered this year:
This developing artist was waiting for the rest of her team and ensuring that her plot would be easily found
Gorgeous weather and a beautiful waterfront location brought tens of thousands of attendees out to the 22nd Annual Children’s Festival this past weekend. The city reports 6500+ people on the Beachway Saturday and just as many at Spencer Smith Park on Sunday.
Besides the locals doing their thing the city brings in “professional” sand castle builders who do their thing.
This has the look of a production line – serious stuff and a lot of fun as well. Imagine families from different parts of the city competing against one another. Next years perhaps.
Sandi ‘Castle’ Stirling and Nick Blandin, winners of several North American sand sculpting awards, and Sharon Nesbitt, People’s Choice winner from the 2010 competition, along with Raymond Poirier were doing really fun stuff. The four sculptors created their circus themed master pieces throughout the event.
In the Adult category the winners were:
1st prize adult Dale Andrews
2nd prize adult John Bowron
3rd prize adult Karen Barnes
In the Youth category the winners were:
1st prize youth Julia Barnes
2nd prize youth Michael Girard
3rd prize youth Jacob Pacaud
In the Child category the winners were:
1st prize child Bree MacDowell
2nd prize child Sarah Bowron
3rd prize child Kate Green-Johns
In the family category the winners were:
1st prize family Bowron Family
2nd prize family Pearson Family
3rd prize family Andrews Family
The People’s Choice Award went to Lauren Sawras
The Saturday’s festivities ended with a free movie – free event Madagascar 3.
The Beachway part of the Children’s Festival isn’t just about sand castles. Face painting and demonstrations are a large part of the event as well. Here a young girl appears a little apprehensive while one book looks on with delight while the brother and sister give the process a quizzical look
The Children’s Festival is a free annual event that takes place the third weekend August and spans The Waterfront at Downtown Burlington with beach fun on Saturday in Beachway Park and traditional family fun in Spencer Smith Park on Sunday. To be involved in next year’s festival, please contact the City of Burlington’s Event Office at festivalsandevents@burlington.ca You can reach them by telephone at: 905-335-7766.
