Giant squids, whales, lunar modules, pirates, mermaids, and even Spongebob lined the shore of Lake Michigan at the Indiana Dunes State Park for the 18th annual Sand Sculpture Contest, and first-time builders joined varsity-league sculptors for a day of fun.
This year’s theme, All Washed Up, got creative juices flowing Saturday, especially for Mike Jones, of Bloomington, who joined with family and friends on a team called Stephanie at the Sons of Beaches for their ninth year at the event.
“We have a sunken boat, a pirate taking a bath in a barrel, and a mermaid wrapped around the barrel,” said Jones as he carefully molded sand, streaks of white sunscreen on his neck.
Jones said that teammate Phil Gagna of Portage came up with the idea and emailed them all the day before.
“We just look at the sketch this morning and we said, ‘let’s do it,'” Jones said.
Hannah Kurgan, 13, and her sisters Aliceson Kurgan, 9 and Melissa Kurgan, 11, of Lake Station, had never built a sand sculpture at the contest before but they knew right away what they wanted to do.
“Spongebob is my favorite cartoon ever and in the movie he washed up from the sea,” said Hannah, “so we knew it would fit the theme and we thought it would be something fun to do for the summer.”
Sherri Nord, of Valparaiso, and her family, daughters Melodie and August, son Micah, and husband Paul, planned their creation based on the theme and ideas from the Internet.
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“We thought that whales wash up on the beach and so we googled whale sand sculptures for photos. We have fun doing this every year and this is our fifth year,” Nord said. “Last year we did a turtle and we’ve also done a butterfly and Angry Birds.”
Brad Bumgardner, interpretive naturalist at the Indiana Dunes State Park, said that the event has grown over the years to become the premier sand sculpture contest in the state.
“Sand is the basis of our story here at the park and this is a fun way to celebrate that,” Bumgardner said.
Celebrating the sand and the beach at the end of the day in their creation were 9-year-old Sylvia Coslov and her mom, Carrie Coslov, of Chesterton, who came to see the sand sculptures for the day but they ended up grabbing a piece of driftwood as a tool and joining in the fun.
“It’s a big bucket, a shovel, a beach ball, and a Band-Aid — stuff that washes up on the beach after everyone is gone,” Sylvia said.
Heather Augustyn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.