Sand Sculpture Gearing Up at Revere Beach

In only a few short weeks, sand sculptors from all over the world will arrive on Revere Beach and will begin entertaining the throngs of spectators with unique sand creations as part of the festival’s all-important 10th Anniversary.

Hundreds of thousands of spectators are expected to hit the Beach from July 19th to the 21st to take in the now-famous sculpting competition on its 10th year in operation.

Already, Amanda Gourgue, new executive director of the Revere Beach Partnership, said they have some exciting changes to build on what was an eye catching and fun festival last year.

“John Hamel did an amazing job when he came in last year and revamped the things the Partnership had done with the Festival,” she said. “He brought in excitement and new ideas and features. The way we’re looking at it is we have a lot of new things on the Beach and I am hoping to bring more energy this year for our 10th Anniversary.”

One of the new features this year will be the addition of the trendy food truck industry. Several food trucks will be stationed on the Beach, including those of Revere residents James DiSabatino (Roxy’s Gourmet Grilled Cheese) and Rich Cambriello (Bone Daddy’s Burgers).

Back will be the kids rides, community exhibits and arts and crafts. However, the sculptors will be spread out a little more this year.

“We will expand the sculpting area,” said Gourgue. “We want to make it a little more roomy and stretch it further down the Beach so it’s not so crowded. That’s a lot of people right now in a little area.”

One area of major emphasis will be the Interactive Learning Center for kids – an idea that has not yet been fully realized.

“I’m really excited about the Learning Center and I’m really trying to build it up this year,” she said. “We’ll have the Franklin Park Zoo there and the Museum of Science has interest. I’m excited because I really want an educational component. Also, because the Piping Plovers are already on the Beach, we’re going to have a program about them with the DCR Ranger.”

Additionally, last week the Partnership announced that Minelab metal detectors will be on the Beach for the Festival and will offer Beach-goers an opportunity to go treasure hunting.

Minelab, who’s earned a reputation among treasure hunting enthusiasts as manufacturer of “The World’s Best Metal Detection Technologies,” will enlist beach visitors to register for a “Treasure Quest” session.  That’s where visitors can use a Minelab metal detector in a sectioned off portion of the beach to locate seeded coins and other special tokens that can be redeemed for great prizes. The best part is that it’s all free of charge and everyone who participates walks away with at least a nice giveaway prize.

“Our Treasure Quest event is geared to share the fun and intriguing hobby of metal detecting,” explained Gary Schafer, general manager of the Minelab Americas. “Remember how you dreamed of finding buried treasure as a child? Now you get to do it for real, and bring along the entire family to enjoy the thrill of a hunt.”

Minelab has scheduled four hunts each day that consist of three separate heats. Those who find special tokens and keys throughout the day will be put into a daily drawing to win a metal detecting backpack filled with supplies, a beach kit or a new Minelab metal detector.

While the metal detecting hobby has been around for about a half century, outdoors-minded people rarely think about bringing a metal detector along with them when camping, hiking, fishing or hunting.  But a metal detector is one of the few recreational opportunities that can actually ‘pay you back’ by helping you locate coins, jewelry, gold nuggets, meteorites or historic artifacts like bullets and buttons from the Civil and Revolutionary War periods

Minelab will have expert detectorists available for consultation and instruction at Revere Beach during the NSSF.  At the end of each day, the Minelab experts will put on a demonstration in a seeded hunt contest to see who can find the most treasure.

Gourgue indicated that there will also be the traditional fireworks show on the Beach Saturday evening, July 20th, around 9 p.m.

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