Imperial Beach is home to the largest
sandcastle competition in California.
They're changing things
up this year due to the
pandemic, obviously.
So instead of bringing the
competition onto the sand,
they're building Ivy's largest
sandcastle ever and he is busy
building a two story and 40 foot
wide sand sculpture this morning.
Professional sand sculptor,
designer of Sandcastle City Momentum
Leonard Gonzalez taking taking a
second a few moments out of his
busy day to join us this morning.
Welcome.
Good morning, thank you for having
me. Yeah, of course this is so exciting.
OK, so how did this idea come about
and tell us about this big design?
We wanna see what's happening behind you.
We'll have to credit some of the members
of our of our committee for coming
up with a Sandcastle city concept.
But from there it took off.
It just spoke to me about showing
what San Diego is about and how
important sandcastles are to
Imperial Beach and our culture.
So we've got a big sandcastle that's morphing
down into our cityscape and down below.
We haven't gotten there yet,
but we're going to be doing some Imperial
Beach imagery and we're trying to think.
Everybody who's been out here and
supporting us the whole time now
talk to people about how this all goes about,
because for those that aren't familiar,
I've been down there and witnessed this.
I mean, you spend hours just packing in the
sand as tight as possible and building it up,
and weather plays a big role in all of this.
Right, well weather would play a big part.
Luckily we're in San Diego and
we'll cross our fingers that we
don't have anything major coming up.
But the way we start is we build
these big boxes together and we
fill them with sand and we compact
the sand in as tight as we can.
We make sure that the water moisture
content is right and as we start to
sculpt we have to take those boxes
down one by one from the top down.
And we sculpt to the bottom so
it's kind of a a guessing game.
Sometimes when you get to the bottom
because the lines all have to line up.
This is
it's a process and it's so impressive.
When will it be finished and how long
will it be up for the public to see?
The the target right now is to finish
by Wednesday and it should stay
up through this following weekend.
Hopefully a little bit longer,
but you know that has a little to
do with the weather and and and
maybe the public to just see how
many people are coming out here
and taking a look. I'm always
amazed they walk around
with little water bottles
and they keep squirting it.
Yes, so make sure that the
sand doesn't crack.
Where did the inspiration
come from this year's design?
Well, obviously because we don't have
the the street fair in the in the.
Competition that we normally do.
We really wanted to keep the spirit
going for the sun and Sea Festival,
so we figured let's just make
this thing as big as we can.
And remind everybody that we're
the sandcastle city, right here.
We've been doing this for. 40 years.
So that's where the concept is.
Tell us about the professional
scant the sand sculptors that are
working to build this castle.
So we've got three or four
different teams of people.
My own team consists of five different guys.
We've got the sand squirrels there,
another local Imperial Beach team.
We had another team from Orange
County drop in and help,
and we also had some international guys
guys that are always touring the world
doing sandcastles all over the place.
Come in and help,
I was thankful that when I reached out
to them they said Yep, we're coming.
We're coming to help.
Get this thing done and here they are
fabulous. Well people have got to get
down and see all the hard work that
you are putting into this because
it truly is amazing and it's just
memorizing mesmerizing to see it.
Like in person. Yeah so we wish you luck.
Hopefully nothing crumbles
between now and the finish line.
Fingers crossed, I know your face
listen I know my husband has built
sandcastles with my daughter at the beach.
Like not on this level, and it's hard
in so seeing this is remarkable.
Yeah, definitely. And and the
kids always like to to test
them and see if they're going
to really stand for. Yeah, at
the end of a footprint, yes,
the question is who all gets to your not
gonna let that happen here, alright?
Nobody gets a stomp on it at the very end
right before they have to tear it down.
That's the fun part sometimes right?
I think Captain Leonard should get
to do it after all this hard work.
Thanks for joining us this morning. Yeah,
I remember being a kid, huh? Thank
you. They get all days.
Yeah, good to see you. Thank
you so much.