Bringing Out Your Inner Child – Through Sandcastles

Leap’s 28th Annual Sandcastle Contest, Northern California’s largest sandcastle building event, is being held at Ocean Beach in San Francisco this weekend.

The competition allows teams and individuals, many consisting of architects, engineers, contractors and designers and local elementary school students to let their imagination run wild.

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.

Last year, teams and sponsors helped raise $220,000. Those funds were used to serve over 6,500 students in more than 27 schools across the Bay Area with hands-on learning experiences in the arts.

While the event is a fundraiser, admission is free. It is really amazing to see some of the creations that the teams build.

The Sandcastle Contest takes place on Saturday, October 8 at Ocean Beach from 10-4.

Photo Credit: Cris Benton, via Flickr

It's simple. Keith Mizuguchi loves to write and write and write some more. After taking a hiatus from the journalism business, he has rekindled his passion for writing over the last two years, holding a job as both a web and on-air writer for San Francisco news radio station KCBS. While he enjoys the news business, his true passions are twofold: sports and food. Bay Area born and raised, he lives in San Jose, commutes to SF and loves every minute of it. You can follow his food adventures on Twitter @foodie_keith.