Cephalpods and cartoon poriferas were also winning sculpture subjects along with sharks and the ever-popular fish/human hybrid mermaids.
Ocracoke's favorite bad boy, Blackbeard, also appeared in the sand.
Plays on words abounded, with entries titled "Ocra-Croak" "Ocra-Croc" and "Octo-Coke." Few can resist the temptation.
Angie Todd organizes the Sand Sculpture contest each year. She reported that their were 25 entries this year, which is a bit less than in years past, but the weather looked ominous and that might have kept people away. As it turned out, it was a beautiful morning at the beach.
Participants sign up by age and whether they are groups or individuals. Kids and kid teams can't get help from their grown-ups and individuals have to go it alone. Group size is unlimited.
The Best in Show prize is a people's choice award, voted on by the spectators. For the first time in Angie's memory, an individual got the most votes. Kate Highsmith created a whole nest of sea turtle eggs and hatchlings, and some mama turtles to go with them. She came out to see the Sand Sculpture contest in 2015 and decided to compete this year. Her husband kept their young sons away from the beach until the end of the building time so they wouldn't "help," but they were really excited to help her claim her prize of $150 cash.
In the Individual 12 & Under category, there were only two entrants, both Ocracoke kids, and they both got a prize! First pace went to Petros Burleson for his "Squid" and 2nd place went to Catherine Todd for "Spongebob and Friends." (I didn't get a photo of Catherine's sculpture – if you have one, please share.)
Giovanni Capriotti's "Shark" took 1st place in Individual 12 & Over, followed by Adrianna Davis in 2nd place with "Mermaid" and Barb Oelschlegel in 3rd place with "Medieval Castle."
In the Group 12 & Under category, Team Mini Awesome took first place for "Little Mermaid." A team named Short, Yellow, and Sandy won the 2nd place prize for "Spongebob" and Hunter and Ally Capriotti took 3rd place for their "Lighthouse."
The Group 13 & Over category is usually the most competitive. The giant frog made by the Helmetheads team was an obvious contender, and took 1st place. Yay, "Ocra-Croak!" 2nd place went to Emma, Tim, and Sam Dzialo for "Octo-coke" and 3rd place went to the sunning reptilian "Ocra-Croc" by the Don Johnson crew.
An Honorable Mention goes to the "Teach's Hole" entry, a very detailed sculpture of Blackbeard's face, which Angie and I both really liked.
And there were many more...
