A giant cat peers out from the pages of a massive book etched with the name “Grimms,” while a mouse sits in front holding its own tiny volume, as if ready to read a bedtime story. But this whimsical scene isn’t sculpted from clay, metal, or marble—it’s made entirely of sand. On the shores of Port Aransas, sand sculptors chip away at damp grains, surrounded by towering castles, fantastical creatures, and intricate designs in various stages of completion, while crowds gather to watch the transformations unfold.

Welcome to Texas SandFest, a three-day sand-sculpting competition and festival that has drawn artists and spectators to the Gulf Coast since 1997. Visitors roam the beachfront, marveling at elaborate sculptures, like the mythological figure who ferries souls across the River Styx, before browsing vendor tents, sipping drinks out of hollowed coconuts, or catching a live music set.

The world of professional sand sculpting is a small one, with only around 500 active sculptors worldwide. It’s a tight-knit community driven by creativity, collaboration, and a shared passion for transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary.

“It’s a community that brings their imagination out into the world,” says Suzanne Altamare, Texas SandFest’s master sculptor coordinator.

There is no standard path to becoming a sand sculptor, but it does typically begin with having fun on the beach. Altamare has been a professional sand sculptor for 37 years and has served as SandFest’s coordinator since 2005.

Her journey began with a love story: While visiting Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1982, Altamare spotted a “pretty nice-looking” man sculpting the sand.

“He came up and looked at something I was trying to make in the sand,” she recalls. “It was my husband. We became best friends. It’s definitely a love story that continues on. I feel at home with these guys.”

One of the youngest professional sculptors at the competition, 27-year-old Joon Park began by crafting Pokémon and anime creatures before evolving into more intricate works, such as the Grimms’ Fairy Tales–inspired cat and mouse sculpture. His passion for sand sculpting started a decade ago when he helped a family friend at a local contest.

“I was the water bucket boy, just carrying buckets of sand and water back and forth to the beach,” Park says.

For Walter “Amazin’ Walter” McDonald, the oldest sculptor on the beach at 83, his love of sand dates to his Boy Scout days, when he’d build castles on the sandy banks of a creek. “It took over my life,” he says. “I had no idea that I was going to do this. I thought I was going to be a rock and roll star.”

While the community is strong, its future is a common topic of discussion among sculptors. Park says he loves that it’s a small group, because when you go to an event, all your friends are there. However, he says the downside is they feel like a dying breed.

With nearly a million followers combined on both Instagram and TikTok, Park hopes his social media can help change that. His fans send him photos of them on the beach following his tutorials. For him, fun has always been at the core of it.

“You’re playing on the beach essentially, so as long as you’re having fun, you can keep going at it,” he says. “That’s how I hooked myself.”

Young kids get their own start through the festival’s “lesson mountain,” where children ages 6 to 12 can build their own creations with guidance from pros. “I love it,” Altamare says. “It inspires people. They’ll try all kinds of things after they see what we do because a lot of what we do looks totally impossible.”

The tools of the sand-sculpting trade are often improvised. Artists use shovels, buckets, and drinking straws to blow out tight crevices, as well as trowels typically used to install flooring, and garden sprayers to prevent sculptures from drying and cracking.

Altamare and Park say the most prized tool is a small offset spatula or palette knife, typically used for cake decorating, because it helps with fine details. Magic Erasers have also become popular for smoothing surfaces, along with fluffy brushes and dusters to clean away stray grains.

Some sculptors take it up a notch. McDonald fashions his own tools using stainless steel wire from his jewelry bench, sharpening the insides for precision cuts. 

Texas SandFest 2025 is over, but plans are already underway for 2026, with the dates set for April 17 through 19. The competition and crowds draw sand sculptors in, but it’s Port Aransas’s silky, sculptable sand that keeps them coming back year after year.

“This is my favorite sand,” McDonald says. “When I put my sand out in a very wet glob and give it a little jiggle, it spreads. Then you jiggle the edges, and it folds up into the size and shape you want. A lot of sand, when you do that, you’re getting grit. Here, it’s like silk.”

The cat, the mouse, and the other sculptures won’t last forever, but the memories—and the inspiration sparked—will.