Last weekend, Ron and I went to Clearwater Beach to see the Pier 60 Sugar Sand Festival. Clearwater Beach is known for its sparkling, soft, white sand, but when Hurricane Helen barreled through last September, it pushed mountains of sand all over the island. Before the sand could be returned to the beach, it had to go through the arduous process of separating, sifting and cleaning. Now six months later, it was back where it belonged, just in time for the annual sand sculpting event.
The Clearwater Marine Aquarium, which was closed for three weeks due to damage from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, recently reopened with a special exhibit: Aqua Lanterns, a Chinese Festival of Lights. Ron and I have been trying to support the local businesses that were affected by the storms whenever we can, so I was especially excited about this exhibit.
On Sunday, Ron and I went to St Petersburg to see Enchant Christmas, a scavenger hunt set inside a maze of over four million Christmas lights. Each year, the story behind the scavenger hunt is slightly different. This year, mischievous forest animals had stolen the magical sleigh bells that allowed Santa’s reindeer to fly. Our mission (should we choose to accept it) was to find all eight of the sleigh bells and save Christmas! At the entrance to the maze, we were given a scratch-off card with the names of the animals so that we could check them off as we found them. This was the second time we’ve been to Enchant Christmas, and I thought it was even better this year than on our first visit. I loved all the forest creatures, especially the penguin pair and the snowy owl. In the center of the maze, towering icicles surrounded a 100-foot Christmas tree.
The Sugar Sand Festival is a 17-day sand sculpting competition celebrating Clearwater Beach’s soft, white sand. I’ve gone to the festival five times now and every year is different. This year’s theme was “Blast from the Past.” It was a nostalgic look at the pop culture icons of the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, all carved out of sand.
Since I grew up in the 80s, I especially liked the sculptures of Michael Jackson, the space shuttle and Pac Man. Another of my favorite sculptures (from the 90s section) was of the Simpson family sitting their couch with the characters from Toy Story. To add to the mood, there was background music playing for each decade, from “Mr. Sandman” to “Staying Alive” to the theme song from Seinfeld.
Last weekend, Ron and I went to St Petersburg with our friends for the Tall Ships festival, a 4-day exhibition of the ships participating in the 2023 Tall Ships Challenge. This year the Tall Ships Challenge was taking place in the Gulf of Mexico, with stops in St Petersburg, Galveston and Pensacola.
I love sailing ships because they are so beautiful and historical, but to tell the truth, I didn’t know much about them. What exactly is a tall ship? I did a little research before the festival to educate myself. I found out that tall ships are large, traditionally rigged sailboats that have at least two masts. They can be categorized by size or by the number of masts and type of sails. For example, schooners have at least two masts with the foremast shorter than the main mast. Full-rigged ships and barques both have at least three masts, but on a full-rigged ship all the sails are square-rigged (which means the sails run perpendicular to the length of the boat) while on a barque, the aft mast is fore-and-aft rigged.
On Saturday, Ron and I went to Treasure Island for the Sanding Ovations sand sculpting festival. I love art displays with a theme, something that ties everything together. This year’s theme, “Once Upon a Time”, seemed to have brought out the best in the artists. There was so much creativity and humor. The Rapunzel sculpture was titled “Hair Extensions” and showed Prince Charming lying on ground holding up a long braid. In the Goldilocks and the Three Bears sculpture, the bear family finds Goldilocks passed out on their beach chair after drinking all their beer. Because of the way the sculptures were laid out on the beach, you could view the details on all sides. I especially liked the back of the Three Bears sculpture, with Mama Bear’s thong and Papa Bear’s butt crack. These fairy tales creations did not look anything like the ones in my childhood story books. :-) The highlight of the exhibit was an enormous castle, made with 80 tons of sand, that all ten of the master sculptors had worked on together.
On Sunday, Ron and I drove to Clearwater Beach for the Sugar Sand Festival, a beach party celebrating Clearwater’s famous soft, white sand. For the 17-day festival, master sand sculptors carved amazing works of art using nothing but sand, water and simple tools. This was the fourth time we've gone to the festival, and I thought it was the best one yet. This year's theme was “SANDimals, an Animal Adventure”. There were animals representing every letter of the alphabet, from aardvark to zebra, and even a few fictional creatures like the yeti and Chewbacca the Wookiee. Each sculpture had so much character and detail. While we were at the exhibit, several of the sculptors were carving individual pieces for a competition to raise money for local schools, so we got to watch their artwork come to life.
Last Saturday, Ron and I went to the Henry B. Plant Museum in Tampa for their Victorian Christmas Stroll. During the 1880’s, Henry Plant founded the Plant System of railroads and steamships, connecting the North to southwest Florida, Key West and Cuba. Besides goods, Plant wanted to use his railroad system to bring tourists to Florida, so he built eight hotels, including the Belleview Biltmore in Clearwater. The Tampa Bay Hotel was the grandest of them all. It opened in 1891 and had 511 rooms, an indoor heated swimming pool, racetrack, casino and Florida’s first elevator. After the hotel stopped operating in 1932, it was purchased by the University of Tampa. The building, renamed Plant Hall, now houses the Henry B. Plant Museum, as well as classrooms and offices for the university.
"I saw this Jedi costume, and I was so ecstatic I ran out of breath. At last I had an idea of who I was, how to carry myself, and I had a way of being."
Samuel L. Jackson (Mace Windu)
"Art can be anything."
Nathan Sawaya
