THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 2, 1995 TAG: 9510020067
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAM STARR, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
In the predawn hours Sunday along the beachfront, under the apparent watch of security guards, the unthinkable happened.
City workers in a bulldozer mowed down four of the seven sand sculptures to be judged in Sunday's Sandcastle Classic masters competition.
It was the professional sand sculptors' worst fear, realized. They had spent a windblown Saturday shoveling sand and hauling water buckets, carving windows and turrets and chiseling features to make their creations.
The artists in town for the two-day competition - the most popular event at the Neptune Festival - had worried that vandals or bad weather would harm their unfinished entries. They were assured that overnight security would be provided.
When they awoke at dawn and looked out their hotel windows to the Boardwalk, the sculptors were stunned to findfreshly mowed-over sand in place of their sculptures.
Chuck Feld had spent eight hours the day before meticulously carving The Great Gatsby mansion. ``It's one thing if it dries out or falls apart on its own,'' Feld said with a wry grin. ``I don't know what I thought at first. Then I saw the tracks and knew what happened. But there's not a whole lot I could do about it.''
No one knew how the mistake occurred, and officials with the city's Public Works Department could not be reached for comment.
The bulldozer had been sent about 4 a.m. to demolish the youth and free-lance entries from Saturday to make room for Sunday's business entries. The sculptors speculated that the driver probably just kept bulldozing before realizing he had flattened the master entries, too.
``I never in a million years thought we would have a problem,'' Sandcastle Classic chairwoman Donna Tate said, shaking her head.
The masters' sculptures had been roped off with blue markers, Tate said. Because security guards were on hand Saturday night, Tate was at a loss to explain the demolition except to say that officials are ``still looking into it.''
At a hastily called meeting Sunday morning, festival officials decided to add a one-day category to the competition, in fairness to the sculptors. Tate and the sculptors also decided to give the unfortunate artists an extra hour to re-create their pieces.
``We'll have this event next year,'' she said, ``and this will not happen.''
Tampa, Fla., sand sculptor Dan Meyer took advantage of the situation by changing his entry from the Roaring Twenties, this year's theme, to the ``Meow Twenty.'' By 3 p.m., the former Disney animator had created two cartoon cats sitting in a Caterpillar bulldozing a sandcastle.
Meyer and Feld said they would return for next year's Neptune Festival despite this year's mishap. Tate, who found out on Sunday that she received the festival's Volunteer of the Year award, said she was ``totally impressed'' with the sand sculptors' professionalism and manners.
``They felt as bad for me as I did for them,'' Tate said. ``They gave me a standing ovation at the meeting this morning . . .
``But I think tomorrow I'm going to have a heart attack.'' MEMO: Winners of the 1995 Sandcastle Classic masters competition two-day
award: 1st-John Gowdy; 2nd-Damon Farmer; 3rd-Richard Varano. One-day
award winners: 1st-David O'Brien; 2nd-Robert Schacht; 3rd-Chuck Feld;
4th-Dan Meyer.
Sandcastle Classic photos/B3
by CNB