Building blocks of fun

Bryce Alderton

Spray a little bit of water and pack some sand. Take a scalpel to

carve an alligator’s fingers, Shrek’s eyelids in the sand or the scales

that emerge on a dragon’s back.

From ogres to pyramids to dogs, sandcastle builders worked feverishly

in the three hours they had Sunday afternoon to create masterpieces in

the sand on Big Corona State Beach in the 40th annual Sandcastle Contest.

And although there were awards given, most contestants entered the

contest for the fun of it and to spend time with family, friends,

neighbors, and co-workers.

Some groups drove from as far away as Covina, Yorba Linda, and Upland

to participate in the event presented by the Commodores Club of the

Newport Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce.

Covina resident Alvin Ko, 28, worked with his girlfriend, Yeegee

Castillo, 26, on The “Swamp Surfin’ USA” entry that eventually won first

place sand sculpture in the master’s category.

When asked how he felt about winning, Ko smiled and shrugged, “It’s

OK.”

Ko is a landscape architect who came up with the design for

Tustin-based Greenberg Farrow Architecture’s entry that depicts an

alligator taking a bite out of a surfboard with the surfer’s leg and arm

underneath the board.

“The most important part is the sprayers. If [the sand] gets dry, it

will just crumble,” Castillo said. “Luckily the sun isn’t out today.”

Irvine resident Dan Hoffman is an architect in the firm and said the

group had four or five ideas, but said the decision to build the

alligator was based on “conductibility.”

“‘We had some other fun ideas, but they would have been hard to

build,” Hoffman said.

Linda Vick remembers coming to the sandcastle contest and wanted to

relive the experience again, helping her friend Judy Shade and Michael

Merino Architects design its “Frog Eats Bug” entry that eventually won

second place for the master’s sand sculpture category.

Joel Segura of Michael Merino Architects was covered in sand and

pulled a bucket of water toward the Volkswagen Bug they were creating.

“We just came up with the idea this morning,” Segura said. “We wanted

to come up with something original.”

Shrek’s head and hands rose from the sand as the Paz and Byrne

families put the finishing touches on the recent movie ogre. Shrek’s

eyebrows were made out of seaweed the children fetched early Sunday

morning.

“We just sent the kids out this morning to get the seaweed,’ said

Blythe Paz.

The Paz and Byrne families, from Yorba Linda and Upland respectably,

have been making the trip to Corona del Mar State Beach for the contest

for three years.

Andy Paz welcomed the chance for the families to get together.

“We try to do many different outings as a group; we’re pretty close,”

Paz said. “[The design] was a joint effort. We were sitting at a table

and wanted something that would be challenging and something kids could

identify with.”

Kids stopped at nearly every castle or sculpture Sunday, gazing in

amazement and joy as the builders rushed to finish their creations by the

2 p.m. deadline.

Entries entered either the castle or sculpture category.

Blossoming from the sand grew the semblance of a medieval castle in

the form of the “40 Peaks For 40 Years” entry, which won first place in

the non-masters category for sandcastles.

The Africano family and friends used coffee cups, buckets, knives and

brass tools Marc Africano made to sculpt their castle.

Corona del Mar resident Greg Bonano watched Marc Africano write

“Devon” in the sand in front of the castle.

Devon is the girl to which the castle is dedicated. The family didn’t

want to mention much more than she is sick but healing and is a neighbor

in the Huntington Beach neighborhood Marc Africano and wife Michelle live

with their two children, Colton and Casey.

Marc Africano often takes his kids to Newport Pier to build castles

because “the sand is the best.”

“My son loves building [castles]. Look at all the smiles,” Africano

said. “This is one of the only things I do that’s a win-win situation

because it’s with my kids.”

The overall best winner was a sculpture titled “Working Lunch,” built

by the Weldon/McCool group.

The group members also designed an alligator with a person’s leg in

its mouth.

Another entry, titled “Welcome to Florida,” centered on the current

string of shark attacks in Florida and had a shark’s mouth open wide with

a swimmer’s leg sticking out.

“It was just for fun, we’re at the beach and it’s timely,” said Ray

Bullard, a 26-year-old architect with Thirtieth Street Architects of

Newport Beach, which came up with the design.

The most humorous award was given to “Melts in Your Mouth,” built by

the KTGY Group, depicting an M&M; relaxing.

* Bryce Alderton is the news assistant. He may be reached at (949)

574-4298 or by e-mail at o7 bryce.alderton@latimes.comf7 .