The Sandcastle Contest is Northern California's largest sandcastle building event. Leap hosts this spirited competition
between teams of architects, engineers, contractors, designers and local elementary school students each October at Ocean Beach.
With proceeds from sponsors and team fundraising, Leap serves over 6,500 students in over 25 schools across the Bay Area
with hands-on learning experiences in art and architecture.
This event is a fundraiser, but admission is free. Please join us for another exciting competition
showcasing the Bay Area's most enthusiastic young minds!
The above link opens a PowerPoint Presentation.
Here is a PDF alternative file.
Please consider donating to LEAP.
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Contest Information and Forms
All downloadable documents are within the menu-bars
below.
About the Sandcastle Contest Event
Every year in the fall, Leap orchestrates the spectacular Sandcastle Contest,
a spirited competition between teams of architects, engineers, contractors,
designers and local elementary school students. This event enables Leap to team
up artists and architects to develop hands-on, participatory programs for the
specific classroom and to integrate the arts and architecture into the school’s
curriculum.
Before the event, architects and builders meet with schoolchildren
in the classroom to develop ideas based on a set theme. Plans are finalized,
clay models are shaped, team structure and schedules are defined, and tasks
are assigned, all in preparation for the big day.
On the morning of the event, teams arrive and await the
whistle that signals the start of the contest. As soon as it sounds, four hours
of intensive building begin. By the end of the day, the beach has transformed
into a magical land of creatures, structures and characters.
The event began in 1983 and quickly became hugely popular.
The first fifteen competitions were held at Aquatic Park in San Francisco. Over
the years, the Sandcastle Contest became so large that it was moved to the more
expansive Ocean Beach, where thousands of people come to watch each year. The
Sandcastle Contest is now the largest sandcastle event in Northern California.
Check out a short film about the 2008 Sandcastle Classic
Ready...Set...Build! Northern CA's Largest Sandcastle Competition -
Special thanks to Nikki Garcia
Castles for Classes
Leap is featured on Emmy award-winning Current TV - world's leading peer-to-peer
news and information network. A fun documentary was produced showing the preparation
and event highlights of our Sandcastle Classic. Here's the video. You can also
go to current.com to see the footage.
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Leap's sandcastle how-to book, Sandcastles: Great Projects: From Mermaids to Monuments, is now available at Amazon.com Proceeds from the
sale of Sandcastles will benefit Leap's art and architecture residency programs in local schools. |
If you would like any more information on the Sandcastle Classic, please contact us.
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