With his impossible-looking "Empty Turtle" sand sculpture—a giant carved replica of the sea creature that stayed intact for several days—Montreal-based artist Jonathan Bouchard took home the top prize at this year's Revere Beach National Sand Sculpting Competition. The event, which took place at the public beach from July 14 to 17, saw 10 international artists competing for the $5,000 award. Sponsors including DCR, the City of Revere, Suffolk Construction, and Massachusetts General Hospital, among many others, helped cover the artists' travel expenses; each sculptor also got an appearance fee.
Now in its eighth year, the festival saw a giant increase in guest count this year. "Last year's attendance was 250,000, and there were upward of half a million visitors this year," said Dusty Rhodes, president of the Boston-based Conventures Inc., which produces the summertime event. "We attribute the increase to a few factors. The marketing and PR was significant. And this year's event had more family activities."
Organizers kept the event free to bill it as a "perfect, cost-free family outing," Rhodes said. On-site activities ranged from a fireworks show to a movie night and live entertainment, and new measures were put in place to engage kids.
In the children's learning center, which launched this year, reps from the New England Aquarium doled out educational tidbits and let kids interact with live sea creatures. The nearby children's village area offered face painting, a moon bounce, a carousel, and sand sculpting lessons.
According to Rhodes, loading in and loading out were the most logistically challenging aspects of the festival. An expo area for sponsors took over a closed-off section of Revere Beach Boulevard, for example, and staffers only had a short window to get the area in place. "All the elements for the expo were set up in a grass area and ready to move in once the road was closed to traffic," she said. "To minimize the road closure impact, the team worked with the city of Revere to make sure everything was on time and went smoothly, and that all of the elements and vendors were in place and ready to go when the event opened to the public."
