World class sand sculptures and fun as Duncannon goes wild for festival
PIRATES and mermaids, giant sand sea-life sculptures and santas on the beach: this year’s Duncannon Sandsculpting Festival had it all.
The festivities got under way on Friday night with a parade featuring local children dressed as pirates and mermaids, and Ramsgrange CS students wearing junk kouture sartorial creations, followed by a spectacular fireworks display watched by hundreds of people along the beach and village.
The theme of this year’s festival was all about the environment and this was reflected in the sand sculptures displayed in a giant marquee on the beach. One sand sculpture was ringed with rubbish from a recent litter pick on the beach. One of the festival’s coordinators Pat Kent said: ‘It was a great weekend despite the rain on Saturday. The village was packed on Friday and Sunday and everyone was impressed with the new set up and the marquee which meant we could have twice as many sand sculptures.’
Several sea-life creatures were shaped with sand by artists: Daniel Doyle from Dublin, Niall Magee from Blessington,
Freddy Kelly from Duncannon taking part in the parade.
Dutch artist Anique Kuizenga and Dan Glover from Florida last week in the four days leading up the festival which is run by volunteers.
Among the other highlights were yoga at 7.30 a.m. on Sunday, the Santa fun run, and the amateur sand sculpture competition. Pat said: ‘ The standard has gone way up. They were very organised and made some great sculptures.’
See pages 36 & 37 for more sand-sculpting festival photos.