Revere Beach Sandcastle Festival News

Revere Beach Partnership Sandcastle Festival Winners

First place winner: Thomas Koet - "The World is Flat, The World is Round"

Thomas Koet won the contest and all three medals....the people's choice award, sculptor's choice award, and overall placement. Also:
Second place was Dan Doubleday's "Pollenation"
Third place was Karen Fralich's "Let's Play Dress Up!"
Fourth place was Meredith Corson's "Sandbar"
Fith place was a tie between Justin Gordon's "Spell Check" and Fred Mallet's "Jungle Falls"

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Today Show Transcript - Revere Beach Sandcastle Festival

LENGTH: 602 words

HEADLINE: Master sand sculptor Sean Fitzpatrick speaks about the Revere Beach Sandcastle Festival

ANCHORS: LESTER HOLT, CAMPBELL BROWN

BODY:


LESTER HOLT, co-host:

It's a major competition on a beach north of Boston, but it's not a swim meet or a lifeguard challenge. Today is the final day of building in the Revere Beach Sandcastle Festival. Joining us now from Revere Beach, Massachusetts, is Sean Fitzpatrick, the event organizer.

Sean, good morning to you. Thanks for joining us.

Mr. SEAN FITZPATRICK (Master Sand Sculptor): Good morning, Lester. Welcome to the Revere Beach Partnership Sandcastle Festival.

HOLT: I'm going to want to talk you to about some of the specific techniques and--and the castles behind you. But let me first ask about the rules. I know this is a very structured event here.

Mr. FITZPATRICK: That's correct. Yes. We have a 21-hour deadline over three days. And they are very strict. We blow the whistle at 8:00 AM and they get to work all the way until lunch time. Everyone stops at lunch time. They get an hour. And after that hour, they get to start back on their piles. At 4:00, everyone steps away from their piles, whether they're done or not. And they--they're--they're open for judging.

HOLT: Tell me about the one behind you.

Mr. FITZPATRICK: Well, Lester, that--that's really interesting. This piece here is by Meredith Corson. She's from Treasure Island, Florida. And you can just look at the amazing detail in the wood grain. The teeth and the figures themselves are just amazing.

HOLT: And you're to walk us through and look at some of the other ones. And as we do, tell me about the techniques involved.

Mr. FITZPATRICK: Well...

HOLT: I mean when I do a sandcastle on the beach, it falls apart. The wind blows and it--what are they using to hold this together and to keep these forms intact?

Mr. FITZPATRICK: Well, actually, there's nothing in the sand, but sand and water. It is, however, special sand. It is quarried in from Hudson, New Hampshire. It has a high silt content. And that's what allows us to pack the sand into these forms. And really get a good structure for carving.

HOLT: This is a great one. This--this dragon here. And, again, it has that detail of the scales and that sort of thing. How did you get involved in all of this, by the way?

Mr. FITZPATRICK: Well, I started sculpting as a young kid. As my kids grew up, I used to take them to the beach and play in the sand. I got hooked up with this group of people up at Hampton Beach up in New Hampshire and we were able to join their crew and basically start, you know, our own master sand sculpting competition down here in Massachusetts.

HOLT: And it's a pretty, you know, it's a pretty tight group of people. Tell me about the camaraderie or is this a real cutthroat competition? That's a great one, by the way.

Mr. FITZPATRICK: Well, it is actually--when they're in the pile, it's all competition. At the end of the day, though, we all sit down and have dinner and we talk about the day. So it all works out pretty well.

HOLT: All right.

Mr. FITZPATRICK: Yeah, this piece is...

HOLT: Hey Sean, thanks for chatting with us. Well, tell me about that one real quick.

Mr. FITZPATRICK: Actually, this piece right here is from Thomas Koet. And just a tremendous detail in the facial expression. Just wanted to share that with you.

HOLT: Now these are great. And we'll find out tomorrow who the winner was. Thanks so much for walking us through it and have fun out there.

Mr. FITZPATRICK: All right. Take care, Lester.

HOLT: All right. That's Sean Fitzpatrick.

And we'll be right back. But first, this is TODAY on NBC.

***

HOLT: Still ahead this morning, staying fit on the road.

CAMPBELL BROWN, co-host:

We'll get the scoop on fitness vacations after your local news.

LOAD-DATE: July 16, 2005

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