Anna Maria Island Sand Blast 2009

Keep Manatee Beautiful takes advantage of its location on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico with SandBlast, a sand sculpture competition that pairs youth groups with local business sponsors to raise funds to support Keep Manatee Beautiful’s programs. To kick off the event, a team a professional sand artists, dubbed “Team Sandtastic,” built a huge exhibition sculpture at the BeachHouse restaurant, 200 Gulf Drive N., Bradenton Beach. The sculpture, which had an “Island of Misfit Toys” theme, was completed over the course of a few days. During those days, the public was invited to free clinics from to learn sand sculpture tips, tricks and techniques.

On Nov. 21, local teams built their sand sculptures between 9 a.m. 1 p.m. Themes were free form, holiday or nautical and were judged by a panel of three judges that afternoon.