Sand Sculpture 2022 

After he helped finish the grocery-shopping octopus sculpture sponsored by the Northocast Co-op, Hernan Perez photographed his daughter who was inspired to work on her own sand sculpture.

Volunteers from Friends of the Dunes welcomed visitors to the Dispersed Sand Sculpture event at the ocean beach, offered educational information and invited people to "vote" for the People's Choice award with the colored flags ($1 donation per flag).

Sand sculptors put the finishing touches on the grocery-shopping octopus sponsored by the North Coast Co-op.

Team Maximum Wattage (Jeremy Water (left) and Ryan Seng), specializing in building sand castles and sponsored by Pure Water Spas, joined the demonstration site this year after sweeping the contest awards last year at Moonstone Beach.

Cullen Stowe and Ashley Koller, both visiting from Chico to avoid the heat, stopped by to check out the sand-sculpture demonstrations and then were inspired to created their own art work in the sand.

The sculpting team from the North Coast Co-op (Jolie Harvey (left), Emily Walter, Elsa Estlow, Kiya Villarreal, Hernan Perez and Selu Villarreal) attempted the traditional team "leap" after finishing their grocery-shopping octopus sand sculpture.

Another look at the grocery-shopping octupus sand sculpture created by the team of North Coast Co-op employees.

Volunteers fr0m the non-profit LatinoNet (Ingrid Beha, of Arcata, and Gustavo Moreno, of Eureka, foreground) were creating the final details of their sunflower sand sculpture.

Local sand-sculpting artist Mike Craghead, of Eureka, used a trowel to create the final details on "Cat Toy."

Volunteer Auxilia Clint, of Arcata, sprinkled water on the dog sand sculpture sponsored by Hunter, Hunter & Hunt, LLP.

Local sand-sculpting artist Mike Craghead, of Eureka, said he enjoys returning to his favorite theme of a creature eating a human when creating sand sculptures.

The back-side view of "Cat Toy," a sand sculpture created by local sand-sculpting artist Mike Craghead, of Eureka.

This volunteer helped create the final details of eyes and the nose on the dog scultpure sponsored by Hunter, Hunter and Hunt LLP.

Most attendees and a few dogs on leashes walked out to the beach west of the Humboldt Coastal Nature Center after lunch to check out the sand-sculpture demonstrations.

Visitors on the way to the beach west of the Humboldt Coastal Nature Center to check out the sand-scultpure demonstrations also could read about the native plants like Yellow sand verbena found along the trail.