Sandcastle Day Date in the current year: August 3, 2024

A sandcastle, also spelled sand castle, is a type of sand sculpture that resembles a building, usually a castle, although not necessarily. Sand sculpture is believed to be the world’s oldest form of sculpture. Its history is thought to date back to prehistoric times. Although there is no hard evidence to support these claims, it is totally plausible because wet sand is a good material for sculpting, even though the resulting sculptures don’t last long.

However, the first use of the term sand castle was recorded only in the 19th century. It can be found in the book entitled Conversations of a Father with His Children that was published in London in 1838. The child in this educational and religious book asks his father to build a sand castle at some point. Various other publications confirm that building sand castles was a popular seaside pastime in Britain in the mid-19th century.

Sand sculpting as an art form began to develop in the 20th century. Beachside resorts started to hold sand sculpting competitions as a marketing strategy to attract more vacationers. These competitions have developed into modern festivals of sand sculpture that are held around the globe. The world’s largest sand sculpture event is the International Sand Sculpture Festival in Portugal.

Simple sand castles can be built by filling a bucket with wet sand, placing it upside down and removing the bucket, or by dribbling very wet sand to form a so-called drip castle. Of course, sculptors who participate in sand sculpting festivals and competitions use more sophisticated techniques to build elaborate sandcastles and other sculptures.

Sand sculpting is so popular that Guinness World Records even has a list of sand sculpture-related achievements. Here are some of them (as of 2022):

• The tallest sandcastle (21.16 m/69 ft 5 in) was built by the team of Skulpturparken Blokhus in Blokhus, Denmark in July 2021.
• The longest sandcastle (10.48 km/6.5 miles) was built by the pupils and stuff of Ellon Academy in Ellon, UK in September 1999.
• The longest line of sandcastles (1,924) was built in Brouwersdam, Netherlands in September 2018.

The origins of Sandcastle Day are unknown, but don’t let it stop you from celebrating! Grab your friends or family, go to the nearest beach, and spend the day building beautiful sandcastles. Don’t forget to take photographs and share them on social media with the hashtag #SandcastleDay! You can also attend a sand sculpture exhibition if there is one near you or try your hand at other sand arts such as sand raking, sandpainting, or sand animation.

Sandcastle Day should not be confused with Sandcastle Days, an annual sand sculpture festival held in the resort town of South Padre Island, Texas. By the way, Sandcastle Days is not the only festival of sand sculpture to take place in Texas. Port Aransas hosts Texas SandFest, which is the country’s largest native-sand sculpture competition.