ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — If you are a beach lover and enjoy looking at the wondrous shapes sand can be formed into, make sure to take a trip over to Clearwater Beach for the Pier 60 Sugar Sand Festival.
This 17-day beach-wide event stands out as one of the best sand sculpture festivals in Florida, event leaders explain on its website. World-renowned sand artists enter to win the best in the show with their sand creations.
This year's theme for the Pier 60 Sugar Sand Festival is "A Blast from the Past." It's a nostalgic time travel back to the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, event leaders explain.
"With free live music, fireworks, and sand sculpting classes, there’s more fun to have during the festival than grains of sand on Clearwater Beach," event leaders wrote.
Here are some things to know about this year's Pier 60 Sugar Sand Festival.
Tickets
Anyone wanting to take a peek at the grainy art can purchase a ticket and head on over to Clearwater Beach to peruse the 21,000-square-foot structure.
People can buy tickets either in person or online.
Pricing:
General Admission: $14
Children 3 & under: Free
Baystar VIP Lounge: $70
All on-site ticket purchases will be cashless payment options only.
Click here for more information or to buy tickets.
When & where
Dates: April 7-23
Location: Clearwater Beach
Sugar Sand Walk Exhibit Hours:
10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays – Thursdays
10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Fridays & Saturdays
Baystar VIP Lounge Hours:
5 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Fridays & Saturdays:
5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Sundays
The VIP Lounge is closed on Easter Sunday, April 9.
Extra fun
If the cool sand sculptures weren't enough to convince you to come out, there will be other activities and vendors set up on Clearwater Beach.
Here are some of the highlights:
For a list of everything to look forward to, click the "Activities" tab on the Sugar Sand Festival's website.
Sculptors
A group of master sand sculptors uses 1,000 tons of Clearwater Beach sand to create a walk-through museum-quality, sand-sculpted art exhibit. People that come out to the event are helping raise money for the community and supporting the educational initiatives of the Sunsets at Pier 60 Festival.
"The cost associated with hosting these sculptors for their month-long stay includes sculpting fees, accommodations, daily meals, travel expenses and a 10% revenue share of exhibit ticket sales," event leaders explain online.
Past and present sculptors include:
- Benjamin Probanza
- Damon Farmer
- Damon Meri
- Dan Belcher
- Daryl Bowles
- Dean Arscott
- Dmitry Klimenko
- Hanneke Supply
- Joohang Tan
- Karen Fralich
- Kirk Rademaker
- Larry Hudson
- Mark Mason
- Martijn Rijerse
- Melinage Beauregard
- Partick Harsch
- Raymond Wirick
- Steve Schomaker
- Sue McGrew
- Yuri Nyuknalov
For more information, click here.
"SEA you soon!" event leaders wrote online.