By Scott D. Johnston
For The Daily World
The 14th annual Sand & Sawdust Festival takes center stage on the North Coast this weekend.
The popular event offers free family fun and fascination as it celebrates two of the defining elements of the area’s life and legacy.
“Whether you’ve done it 50 times or this is your first time, we’ve got your spot on the beach,” said event organizer Dianne Hansen.
The “sand” elements will take place on the beach at the Chance a La Mer approach, with professional, semi-amateur and amateur classes of sand sculpting competition. Sign-up is from 6 to 7 a.m. Saturday, with the actual sand artistry taking shape between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. In addition, free sand sculpting lessons will be offered all three days in the Convention Center parking lot.
Participation is free. Last year saw three pro teams and seven others, plus an estimated 8,000 spectators on the beach.
Beginning Thursday morning, sand sculptor Jim Butler will be at Oyhut Bay, using glue —something not allowed in the actual competition — to create a piece that should last two or three weeks before it becomes part of a sand volleyball court.
The “sawdust” aspects of the event celebrate not only the huge role timber has played in the region’s economic history, but also the unique art of chainsaw woodcarving, which represents the intersection of industry and aesthetics.
Hansen said she expects as many as 25 carvers this weekend, up from 17 last year. Attendees can watch pieces being created, meet the artists, then bid on their work each afternoon. Live auctions are planned at 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.
The event has added an element that Hansen said many carvers are excited about: Organizers have arranged for a big timber “slab cutter” to be on-site. She said this will make it much easier, and thus more likely, for carvers to make benches, because working from a precut slab (in this case, old-growth cedar), eliminates a lot of the prep work.
The Sand & Sawdust Festival runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. The event includes an array of vendors, food and beverages, a beer garden, and a lip-sync contest with local radio station KOSW-FM 91.3, which will be broadcasting live all three days.
The event is hosted by the Ocean Shores/North Beach Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by Rich Hartmann’s Five Star Dealerships and Quinault Beach Resort and Casino.
More information is available at www.oceanshores.org.
* * *
SCHEDULE
Friday, June 23
11 a.m. to 4 p.m. — Chainsaw wood carving
4 p.m. — Live auction of wood sculptures, main stage
5:30 p.m. — Sand sculpting lessons in Convention Center parking lot
Saturday, June 24
6 to 7 a.m. — Sand sculpture check-in on the beach
8 a.m. to 2 p.m. — Sand sculpture contest
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. — Chainsaw wood carving
11 a.m. — Sand sculpting lessons in Convention Center parking lot
2 p.m. — Lip-sync battle
4 p.m. — Live auction of wood sculptures, main stage
Sunday, June 25
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. — Chainsaw wood carving
10:30 a.m. — Sand sculpting lessons in Convention Center parking lot
2 p.m. — Live auction of wood sculptures, main stage
3:30 p.m. — Driftwood carver auction and awards, main stage
4 p.m. — Chainsaw carving awards and People’s Choice sand sculpture award, main stage
Chainsaw artists find the form of their creations as they begin to carve logs during the 2016 Sand & Sawdust Festival. (Angelo Bruscas | GH Newspaper Group)
