Festival seeks a sandy masterpiece

The country’s first All-Ireland sand sculpting competition takes place this weekend as part of an annual festival celebrating all things to do with the beach in a popular South-East seaside town.

Duncannon Beach in Co Wexford is home to an annual Sand Sculpting Festival, which is taking place this weekend for the 26th year, and will host the inaugural All-Ireland competition.

The family festival opened last night with a giant beach party and live music from the band Kobi, followed by a DJ and a fireworks display.

Festivities start again this morning from 10am when the professional sand sculpting exhibition will be unveiled on the beach, with professional sculptors from ‘Duathain Dealbh’ (fleeting sculpture) currently creating a village of sea-creatures under the 2012 theme.

Other events taking place on the popular beach throughout this afternoon include a Cúl Camp, traditional puppet shows, music from the Barrack Street Marching Band and Campile Pipe band, water zorbing, a tug of war competition, and outdoor wrestling displays.

Tomorrow the air will be filled with a competitive spirit as the sand sculpting competition gets under way. Organisers have urged competitors to register tomorrow morning from 10am, with the competition starting at 2pm.

One of the organisers, Cathy Dowling, said: “All competitors will have two hours to create their sand sculpting masterpiece. Each competitive team of up to eight will be allocated a plot and all entries will be judged by a panel with the winners being announced at the festival close on Sunday evening when they will be presented with a trophy.”

On Sunday afternoon the Mad Caps street theatre group will entertain the masses with their outdoor comedy show on the beach and the festival will come to a close with The Bugle Babes, a trio reviving the music of the 1940s and belting out the classics of the swing era.

* For further details on the festival and the All-Ireland sand sculpting competition see www.visitwexford.ie