Even though Saturday was grey and gloomy the sun came out on Ocean Beach for the Leap's 27th Annual Sandcastle Contest. The sunshine came in the form of 500 plus kids and their families, more than 25 Architectural firms, and over 100 Construction Industry companies all working together to build 25 glorious sandcastles. The theme this year was "Sand Francisco" and the subjects were all home grown wonders. From replicas of Alcatraz, to Lombard Street to ATT Park, San Francisco was immortalized in sand if for only a day. With Ryan Associates leading our group, DM+A worked alongside of William Duff Architects and Miraloma Elementary to create ATT Ballpark. I don't know who had more fun, the kids or the adults. Even though I wasn't in the best physical form to do manual labor (look for my blog on "House of Air" ouch!) I had a blast helping the grownups corralling my new best friends while they made giant mounds of sand, stomping and packing it higher and higher to form the grandstands and outfield. When the bulk of the grandstands were complete the kids constructed all sorts of cool ballpark sculptures in sand like the famous Coke bottle slide, McCovey Cove and assorted ball park features. Of course there were entire cities of drip castles skyscrapers. You can only corral kids for so long, you know!
Even though this contest was for amateurs only the fun was first class, prizes will be given out October 20th at the after, after, after after party. Look for our blog from that event in the coming weeks.
