Sandcastle Days

“It’s hard to get people to understand it, because they’ve never been to a sandcastle event,” says Brian Bailey of Shark Beach Burgers. That’s right: The local entrepreneur is bringing a legitimate sandcastle-sculpting event to Amarillo this September. If you haven’t been to Shark Beach, which is the best beach and pretty much the only beach near Amarillo, you’re about to have a great reason to shake the sand out of your boots.

Shark Beach Burgers, in collaboration with Neptune’s International Sandsculpting Championship and South Padre Island Sandcastle Days, is hosting the Panhandle’s inaugural Sandcastle Days at Shark Beach. The free event boasts world-renowned master sand sculptors, food trucks, live music, hands-on experiences with ocean life, and much more.

The professional sand sculpting competition will take place throughout the week of Sept. 18 to 21, with the first Shark Beach Sandcastle Days winners announced Saturday night. The event also features amateur competitions—including sand sculpting—along with fishing rod casting, RC truck racing, and lifeguard games. 

The idea of a sandcastle event in the land-locked Texas Panhandle invites questions: First of all, why? Also, what does it take to bring oceanfront fun to the High Plains? Where do you find professional sand artists, and how will they demonstrate their skills? How do you create a beach out of nothing, anyway? Grab your best pail and shovel, because we’ve got answers.

The Best of the Best 

Founded in 1974, Neptune’s International Sandsculpting Championship hosts the most respected sand sculpture competition in the world. It’s the Super Bowl of sandcastles. In 2024, it hosted 32 master sculptors from 15 countries. And this year, several of these sandmasters will fly to Texas a week early to take part in Shark Beach’s Sandcastle Days before continuing on to Virginia Beach. 

Bailey, who brought his family to Amarillo from South Padre in early 2020, has heard all the questions. “They ask, ‘Aren’t the sandcastles going to blow away?’ No, because these are sandcastles,” he says. Competition sand sculptures each contain over a dozen tons of sand and are often the size of a pickup truck. 

During that week in September at Shark Beach, master sand artists from all over the world will take several days to work on their entries. Each competitor will have two local volunteers helping them pack the sand to finish in time for judging. 

While you’ll certainly see literal sandcastles at Sandcastle Days, there will be plenty of variety in the sculptures these artists choose to craft. They are fierce competitors and professional artists. Their massive sand creations will rival sculptures of bronze or marble. 

“They’re the best of the best,” says Bailey. “And it’s really important for them to win here because it’s the very first one.”

A Field Trip They’ll Remember

The public will get to see these creations in person—and so will local students. From Sept. 14 to 18, buses will bring local elementary school students to Shark Beach for an ocean adventure.

By partnering with Window on a Wider World, Shark Beach will share the fun of Sandcastle Days as a field trip destination for fourth-grade students. The event will provide a variety of hands-on educational opportunities for Panhandle youth, with plans to entertain and feed more than a thousand students.

Visiting students will receive sandsculpting lessons from master sculptors Lucinda Wierenga and her husband, José Sánchez. They’ve won international competitions and appeared on TV. Bailey says, “It’s like asking, ‘Hey, want to learn how to throw a football? Here’s Troy Aikman.’” 

Along with small-group lessons, students will experience large touch tanks containing all manner of saltwater creatures. These touch tanks will allow young students to get up close and personal with ocean life—often for the first time. Presentations will include facts about the aquatic critters and their environment, which all apply to Texas fourth-grade educational standards. 

The student experience at Sandcastle Days will rely heavily on volunteers. “We’ve been begging for volunteers,” says Bailey. “There are plenty of opportunities to help out.”  

Advo will also be bringing adults with disabilities to Sandcastle Days to enjoy the sandsculpting, games and hands-on touch tank experiences.

How to Build a Beach

Shark Beach Burgers and the Baileys didn’t create a beach paradise overnight. 

Brenda Bailey’s mother, Charlotte Schroeter, the owner of Gram’s Burger Farm on the Claude Highway, passed away in 2019. The Baileys arrived in the area in 2020 after selling their business on South Padre Island. The family intended to sell the land inherited from Schroeter and figure out their next step. The pandemic lockdown kept them here longer than expected.

Brian recalls the inspiration for transforming Gram’s Burger Farm into something a little more like the part of Texas they’d left behind. “Brenda said, ‘You need a purpose.’ I asked, ‘What do you miss?’ And she said, ‘I think the beach would be a good idea here.’ So, as a family, we decided to bring the beach to Amarillo.”

They started with a small, roofless stage and a familiar name to Brick & Elm readers. “We had Andy Chase come out, and he would sit in a steel chair and play in the sun,” says Bailey. “And we expanded!”

Then came the sand. It takes an enormous amount of sand to create a beach in the middle of the High Plains. “We brought in about 100 tons of sand first. Then we brought in about 250. Then we brought in about 400. Now we have about 900 tons,” Bailey says.

While red dirt is plentiful here, quality beach sand proved more difficult to acquire. The first batch of sand was too fine, and the harsh Panhandle winds just blew it away. The second batch of sand had a different problem: it turned to clay at the first rain. “The third time,” says Bailey, “it was red! We said, ‘Where’s this from? Oklahoma? That’s not going to work.’”

They finally found the right color and composition of sand. The wind hasn’t blown the beach away, and it continues to bounce back—even from the plentiful rain this summer. “It’s the closest we can find to beach sand,” says Bailey. He’s bringing in another 200 tons for Sandcastle Days.

In the meantime, Shark Beach has established itself as a serious venue for local music, performing around 80 free concerts a year, along with ticketed tribute band concerts on the venue’s big stage. 

Community Support

Neighbors and customers alike have bought into the Shark Beach vision, and Brian Bailey is grateful. “The people of Amarillo really got behind us. They supported us, spoke words of life about us. They give us grace,” he says. For instance, Sandcastle Days wouldn’t be happening without the sponsorship of local businesses. The first massive sculpture built by the master sculptors will honor these sponsors who helped make this event a reality.

The idea for the event isn’t new. In fact, it dates back to the very beginning of what became Shark Beach. “When we moved here, my wife said, ‘Wouldn’t it be neat if we could bring Sandcastle Days here?’” Bailey remembers. Brenda happens to be close friends with Wierenga, the master sculptor and co-founder of South Padre’s celebrated Sandcastle Days. “Lucinda has been the driving force behind us getting this thing going,” says Bailey. “She is just instrumental.”

As for the Baileys, they are driven by a desire to repay local kindness, using Sandcastle Days to honor the generosity and support they’ve received since making the High Plains their home. “This community is very important to us,” says Brian Bailey. “This is our way of giving back.”

For more information, including a full schedule of events, visit sharkbeachamarillo.com/sandcastledays.