FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — Master sculptors from all over the world are in Fort Myers Beach for the American Sand Sculpting Championship. It's the 34th year for the event, but it's been on hiatus since 2019 because of COVID and hurricanes.
"Most of the beach after Ian and Milton and all the hurricanes, the beach was limited on sand, so we've been, the town has been re-nourishing the beach, right? So we just added to that and brought in several, about 400 tons of sand to help renourish the beach," said Bill Knight, an organizer of the event and a master sculptor.
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For master sculptors, Brett Stocker from Mexico and Bruce Waugh from Canada, coming back to southwest Florida was a must.
"I saw drone footage of where we were earlier, by the Wyndham Hotel, and I literally had tears in my eyes in Canada before we came here. I'm choking up right now," said Bruce Waugh. "It's so nice to be back here with my peers."
"When they invited me I was so excited that they brought back the competition and I couldn't say no, I had to come," said Brett Stocker.
Waugh says building sand castles has always been part of his life.
"I was a little boy on the beach with, you know, my mom and dad going to the lake and, you know, turning over buckets and this has just been a hobby blown out of proportion," said Waugh.
It's given him people he considers family, even though some of them live countries apart.
"Everybody has a different skill set so when we get to an event, we're trading secrets, we're trading tools, we're discussing different techniques," said Waugh. "It's really interesting to be able to have that community to draw from."
For three days, master sculptors like Waugh and Stocker will bring this unique art form to our beaches.
"This is something that's really special, and for the public to come down and you see it ongoing from shoveling to the final result, that's just something that the people should come and see," said Waugh.
The American Sand Sculptor champion will be named on Sunday, but until then people can enjoy watching the process at the DiamondHead Resort.
