The numbers are looking good for the first two weeks of the Quality Foods Sand Sculpting Exhibition in Parksville Community Park.
The exhibition kicked off July 12 and the sculptures are available for public viewing until Aug. 18.
“We’ve surpassed over 40,000 people through — and counting," said Cheryl Dill, Parksville Beach Festival Society president. “People are really enjoying the sculptures.”
The festival's second week actually saw a better attendance than the first, likely because the weather cooled off.
"I think it’s gonna be a really great weekend with the pleasant weather," Dill said. "The first week it was so hot that I think it was difficult for people being down there."
A few light rain showers recently have the sculptures looking crisp and clean, she added.
The creations are protected from the elements with a thin layer of wood glue, diluted with water, which will allow them to remain in place for another five and a half weeks.
The high quality sand used is not cheap and so the exhibition is using the same sand for a third year in a row, according to Dill. It's been sifted several times to filter out pebbles and other particles.
"We take the quality of the sand very, very seriously," she said. "It’s incredibly important for the sand to work well for sculptors."
If you look closely at sand under a microscope, it has edges, Dill explained, and sand particles that are too smooth are not ideal for sculpting.
“We also need sand that has a certain amount of clay and silts and things like that in there," she said. "That when you put water with it, it’s got that staying power, that holding power."
The mixture of sand and water is critical when the sculptors are building up the foundations for their creations, which is why an irrigation system is dug in so that all the competitors have access to a hose.
Even if you have checked out the sculptures in past years, it's still worth coming down to the exhibition this year, Dill said.
“We really appreciate seeing our local residents, in addition to visitors, come through and make a donation," she said. "Because the donations really help us pay for all the expenses of bringing in all these sculptors from all over the world."
A portion of the donations go back into community — 22 organizations have volunteers staffing the gates this year.
“It’s our whole pay it forward model and we really ask for the community and visitors to come on in and enjoy this great work," Dill said. "But also help our community grow and we thank them for their support."
There are plenty more events yet to come, including the "Rock the Park" music festival (Aug. 9 to Aug. 11), which is a fundraiser that helps Parksville Beach Festival Society operate the outdoor theatre.
Tickets are still available for both Rock the Park and Symphony by the Sea (Aug. 18), which features the Vancouver Island Symphony. They can be purchased at the McMillan Arts Centre online box office at https://shop.mcmillanartscentre.com/collections/box-office.
