Sandcastles are an Imperial Beach tradition and the 2021 Sun & Sea Festival transforms into Sandcastle City, August 14-22.
The castle is open for viewing so take a drive down the strand and visit the massive castle built at Portwood Pier Plaza by the multi-award-winning professional team and hometown favorite, I.B. Posse.
This event is funded by the County of San Diego Community Enhancement Grant Program. For more information visit sunandseafestival.com.
Edited August 23, 2021:
Giant Sandcastle to stay up until August 30
Imperial Beach’s Portwood Pier Plaza, now home to the largest sandcastle built on local sand, departed from the traditional sandcastle competition this summer to accommodate covid concerns. The two-story sculpture made from 75 tons of sand will stay up until August 30 with the support from the City of Imperial Beach. According to event co-chair Shirley Nakawatase, “The committee’s roles had to shift for this new direction but we did it. We are grateful for the outpouring of community support.” With local businesses and longstanding sponsors wondering what the group would do, Leah Goodwin said, “it was important to give back to our community as well as utilize the Community Enhancement Grant Funds given by the County of San Diego. Business sponsors Brigantine and Hess Brewery also had smaller sandcastles built on their property to promote the event.” From all accounts, locals and visitors are pleased with the city scape designed by Leonard Gonzales, captain of the multi-award winning sand sculpting team IB Posse. According to Gonzales, “we wanted to give our community something to look forward to as sandcastles are in our blood, and we couldn’t go another year without seeing sand castles on Imperial Beach…I mean, we are sandcastle city.” A late addition to the outdoor festivities was the Sandcastle Fiesta event designed to replace the Sandcastle Ball in years past. The fundraiser event was sponsored by the IB Optimist Club and the Kiwanis Club of Imperial Beach.
