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Shawnee Mission Beach Volleyball hosts sand sculpting festival
By: Jessica Marshall, Managing Editor
There may not be an actual beach in Johnson County, but Shawnee Mission Beach Volleyball is having a party anyway.
The complex, 19800 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, will host the Kansas City Sand Sculpting Festival from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
The festival, open to the public, features an amateur sand sculpting contest, “how to” classes for entrants and observers, a dinosaur dig and other children’s activities, live entertainment, and food.
The adult sculpting division starts at 11 a.m., followed by the youth division at 1 p.m. The adult categories are friends and families, businesses, and art/architecture. Sculptures will be judged by professional sculptor Katie Corning and local meteorologists Gary Amble and Joel Nichols.
Corning, from Fort Myers Beach, Fla., owns Sand Magic Sculpting and is an award-winning competitor on the Travel Channel’s “Sand Blasters.” She travels worldwide teaching her techniques to others and judging competitions.
Shawnee Mission Beach Volleyball partner Dave McKay and his wife, Peggy, have observed Fort Meyers’ American Sand Sculpting Championship many times and decided this year to start a similar event here.
“We thought it would be fun to do something that was a departure from volleyball at least for one weekend of the summer,” Dave said. “We have tremendous success with beach volleyball leagues nearly every night of the week, and now we’d like to offer a weekend event that is fun for the whole family, is great for local business and can be a community-spirited festival that creates excitement for the whole city.”
Before asking her to help judge the competition, the McKays met Corning in Florida and started asking her questions about the possibility of hosting a sand sculpting event in the Midwest.
They sent Corning a sand sample in January, Peggy said, because they did not know if Kansas River sand would work well for sculpting.
“Katie said (the sand) is a great medium to work with, a combination of silt and clay,” Peggy said. “She said river sand is nicer to work with than beach sand, and it would be great to use.”
Saturday’s sculptures will remain on Sunday for public viewing, Peggy said. For the People’s Choice Award, visitors can purchase a wooden nickel to drop into the bucket of their favorite sculpture.
All proceeds from the award and the children’s activities will benefit Sunflower House, a child abuse prevention center serving Johnson and Wyandotte counties.
“We chose Sunflower House because of what they stand for, and when you think of sand and playing you think of children,” Peggy said. “My husband and I worked with the Sunflower House gala a couple years ago, and we know Bob Bjerg (Sunflower House board chairman). It seemed like a good fit and we want to help them build some community awareness.”
Peggy said with the festival being the first event of its kind in the area, she is not sure what to expect.
“We wanted to start out small and make this an attraction people may come to from different parts of country to see. We have a group of people coming next weekend from Notre Dame, Ind.,” she said. “Everybody’s built a sand castle at some point in their lives, so I think it’ll be unique and fun. You never know what to expect for the first year, but we hope it turns out great and becomes something we can do again and again.”
For details or to register for the sand sculpting festival, call 631-1393 or visit www.smbv.com.
Contact Jessica Marshall at 385-6016 or jmarshall@sunpublications.com.
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The complex, 19800 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, will host the Kansas City Sand Sculpting Festival from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
The festival, open to the public, features an amateur sand sculpting contest, “how to” classes for entrants and observers, a dinosaur dig and other children’s activities, live entertainment, and food.
The adult sculpting division starts at 11 a.m., followed by the youth division at 1 p.m. The adult categories are friends and families, businesses, and art/architecture. Sculptures will be judged by professional sculptor Katie Corning and local meteorologists Gary Amble and Joel Nichols.
Corning, from Fort Myers Beach, Fla., owns Sand Magic Sculpting and is an award-winning competitor on the Travel Channel’s “Sand Blasters.” She travels worldwide teaching her techniques to others and judging competitions.
Shawnee Mission Beach Volleyball partner Dave McKay and his wife, Peggy, have observed Fort Meyers’ American Sand Sculpting Championship many times and decided this year to start a similar event here.
“We thought it would be fun to do something that was a departure from volleyball at least for one weekend of the summer,” Dave said. “We have tremendous success with beach volleyball leagues nearly every night of the week, and now we’d like to offer a weekend event that is fun for the whole family, is great for local business and can be a community-spirited festival that creates excitement for the whole city.”
Before asking her to help judge the competition, the McKays met Corning in Florida and started asking her questions about the possibility of hosting a sand sculpting event in the Midwest.
They sent Corning a sand sample in January, Peggy said, because they did not know if Kansas River sand would work well for sculpting.
“Katie said (the sand) is a great medium to work with, a combination of silt and clay,” Peggy said. “She said river sand is nicer to work with than beach sand, and it would be great to use.”
Saturday’s sculptures will remain on Sunday for public viewing, Peggy said. For the People’s Choice Award, visitors can purchase a wooden nickel to drop into the bucket of their favorite sculpture.
All proceeds from the award and the children’s activities will benefit Sunflower House, a child abuse prevention center serving Johnson and Wyandotte counties.
“We chose Sunflower House because of what they stand for, and when you think of sand and playing you think of children,” Peggy said. “My husband and I worked with the Sunflower House gala a couple years ago, and we know Bob Bjerg (Sunflower House board chairman). It seemed like a good fit and we want to help them build some community awareness.”
Peggy said with the festival being the first event of its kind in the area, she is not sure what to expect.
“We wanted to start out small and make this an attraction people may come to from different parts of country to see. We have a group of people coming next weekend from Notre Dame, Ind.,” she said. “Everybody’s built a sand castle at some point in their lives, so I think it’ll be unique and fun. You never know what to expect for the first year, but we hope it turns out great and becomes something we can do again and again.”
For details or to register for the sand sculpting festival, call 631-1393 or visit www.smbv.com.
Contact Jessica Marshall at 385-6016 or jmarshall@sunpublications.com.