Castles Made of Sand.

For the past eight years, this blog has shared road trips far and near. We’ve brought you historic sites, museum tours, mountain climbs, sailboat rides, racetrack thrills, dining adventures, and most especially… unique roadside attractions. From visiting the World’s Largest Duck and the World’s Largest Penny, to being serenaded by God Bless America at the world’s largest miniature village, to having a 64-piece animatronic orchestra play us a concert at The House on the Rock, we revel in the odd, the offbeat, and the just plain weird.

So when my wife learned about a sand castle contest that’s been happening in the beach town of Belmar, New Jersey for almost four decades, of course we took time off from work to visit! We also found a new location to satiate our sweet tooth, and an awesome coffee shop too.

Let’s begin:

The Belmar Sand Castle Contest

Red pin in location of Belmar, NJ.
Our destination: the seaside resort town of Belmar, about an hour from our front door.
Bridge entering Belmar, NJ. A dock is to the right of the bridge.
As we approached the shore, we could see the temperatures dropping lower and lower on the car’s outdoor thermometer. It was a welcome break from the heat wave currently covering much of the East Coast.
Exterior of Main Street Donuts, a shop in a two-story brick building.
Our first stop was to Main Street Donuts, which offers a variety of regular and gluten-free donuts. My wife found it through the Find Me Gluten Free app, and the reviews were promising.
Table with assortment of 30 different donuts on display, along with gift boxes of donuts. A blackboard with writing is in background.
Main Street Donut’s approach is brilliant in its simplicity: they produce only a few “base” donuts such as vanilla or chocolate, and then create the variety through extensive toppings. My wife ordered a gluten free “Black and White Cookie” donut (a vanilla donut coated evenly in vanilla and chocolate cream), while I got a regular “Cookies and Cream” – a chocolate donut coated in vanilla cream and crumbled Oreo cookies. I’m drooling just remembering it as I write this!
Exterior of Offshore Coffee House.
We took our donuts and headed down the block to Offshore Coffee Co., a Jersey shore coffee chain that has two locations (one in Long Branch, the other in Belmar). It had excellent reviews, so we thought we’d give it a try.
Iced oat milk latte and chocolate donut on white table.
Offshore Coffee Co did not disappoint – my iced oat milk latte was excellent, as was my wife’s almond milk latte. As for the donuts? I didn’t savor it – I was too busy shoveling it into my mouth. So very, very good!!
2020 Acura TLX parked beside boardwalk. Beach and ocean are visible in distance.
After our mid-morning snack, we parked at the beach. Surprisingly, we found plenty of available spots (although every spot would be taken when we left a few hours later).
Sign beside beach that says THE ANNUAL NEW JERSEY SAND CASTLE CONTEST.
The entrance to the New Jersey Sand Castle Contest was at the 18th Street entrance to the beach. With a sea breeze and temperatures in the 70s, we had a pleasant walk from our car.
Panorama of sand castle contest on beach.
This year was the 37th running of the Sand Castle Contest. Registration opened at 8:00 am, and contestants had a mere four hours to build their artwork before judging began at noon.
Octopus sand sculpture.
By the time we arrived around 10:00 am many of the designs were well on their way to becoming fully formed works of sand art.
Sand sign and colored olympic rings made of sand.
This contestant was putting the final touches on her Olympic-themed design.
Hot dog sand art, with sign beside it that says BIG DUDES BIG FOODS.
Want a snack? I loved the streak of mustard on the hot dog.
Obstacle course made of sand, with toy monster trucks maneuvering through the track.
My inner 8-year old loved this elaborate obstacle course for toy monster trucks!
Sand skeleton of Tyrannosaurus Rex, with yellow sign beside it that reads DIG SITE.
I love the “excavation” of the Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton!
Lifeguard rowboat on beach.
Taking a break from the competition, we enjoyed a walk along the beach and boardwalk. We returned a little later in the morning to see the sand sculptures as they neared completion.
Turtle sand sculpture.
We were only gone for twenty minutes, but upon our return the participants were working in high gear as the deadline for judging approached.
Birthday cake sand sculpture.
“Happy birthday to you… happy birthday to…”
Sand sculpture of shark biting inner tube.
(Insert Jaws theme music here)
Sand sculpture of Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton.
This year’s winner of Best in Show was Jurassic Beach… while there were a lot of cool designs, this was definitely my favorite.
Sand art of characters from Pixar movie Inside Out.
Previous winners The Bikini Boys created this amazing work based on the Pixar movie Inside Out. This work was created as a guest exhibition and not part of the judging. After taking in all of the sand castle fun (and enoying one last look at the ocean), we got back in the car and headed home.
Car odometer reading 40,046 miles.
After an hour, we were back home… and back to uncomfortable outside temperatures! The TLX crossed the 40,000-mile mark on the trip. Onward!

Wrapping Up

The 37th Annual Sand Castle Contest was a lovely way to spend a morning in mid-July. Being able to watch people’s creativity unfold, to create works of art only limited by their imaginations (and their skill with sand), and to do it while enjoying an ocean breeze, was simply fantastic. As a bonus? The event is absolutely free!

Thanks, as always, for coming along on another journey down the open road ahead. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some sand to shake out of my shoes.

‘Til next time.

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4 thoughts on “Castles Made of Sand.”

  2. What a fun way to spend the day! It’s so cool to see how creative folks can get with sandcastles. Also-those gf donuts sounded delicious!

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    1. The donuts were AMAZING!! And if I hadn’t had work in the afternoon, I definitely would have grabbed a bucket and shovel and started building a castle of my own!

      Thanks for reading!!

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