Stamps House, Jr.!

Humboldt summer is good. This weekend marine sculptors from near and far used the beach in Manila as their personal sand canvases during Friends of the Dunes’ 21st annual Sand Sculpture Festival. 

Local image conjurer extraordinaire Steven Vander Meer took a beach day and snapped photos of all of this year’s entries which you can view below. This year’s winners have been noted, too. 

(For oodles of photos of sand sculptures from years past, head over to Friends of the Dunes’ website.)

# # #

1. “Hungry Hippo” by The Wild Berries, sponsored by Wildberries Marketplace

2. “Dunes of the Dead” by LACO, sponsored by LACO Associates

3. (Golden Shovel Award) “Save Your Bacon Feed the Merpig” by The Merpigs, sponsored by Hunter, Hunter & Hunt, LLP.

4. (FOD Staff Pick) “SHNowy Plover” sponsored by SHN Engrs & Geos

6. (People’s Choice Award) “Totoro” by Totoro

7. (Best of Show) “Stamps Dune House” by Stamps Family

10. “Rain No More Castle” by Moonstone Beach Sandcastle Club

19. “Cat’s Got Your Tongue” by Beach Babes

20. “Abalone Express” by Manila Community Resource Center

21. (Most Dedicated Diggers) “Mernie Sanders” by FND Berners

22. (Most Imaginative Award) “You Dropped Someting on the Beach” by Northcoast Environmental Center

23. (Youth Diggers Award) “Dragon” by Family Home Stead

24. “Welcome to Cali” by Cerenity Pellor

26. “Mer-Octo-Maid” by The Newbies

27. “Squid/Shark” by The Hodgin Girls

LAST YEAR: Fernbridge, Falcor, and Team Owen’s Bison Rule Today’s Sand Sculpture Festival