12A • June 5, 2015 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Sandcastle contest a legacy despite unclear origins
Sandcastles from Page 1A
That night, a folk music
concert featuring several lo-
cal musicians will be held at 7
p.m. at the Community Hall.
Then, at 8 p.m., a beach
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Tolovana Wayside. S’mores
will be served, but attendees
must bring their own chairs.
Finally, a 5K Fun Run takes
off from the beach at Second
Street at 9 a.m. June 21; regis-
tration begins at 8 a.m.
For more information,
visit www.cannonbeach.org/
businesses/SandcastleCon-
test.
‘64 or ‘65?
occurred on March 27, 1964,
Cannon Beach became a
ghost town.
The wall of water and the
debris it pushed up Ecola
Creek knocked out the Eco-
la Creek Bridge, eliminating
Cannon Beach’s north en-
trance. The incident sparked
a “mass exodus”; many res-
idents sold their property
and left Cannon Beach for
good, according to Elaine
Murdy-Trucke, executive di-
rector of the Cannon Beach
History Center & Museum.
That summer, a group of
locals formed a sandcastle
event held in August, accord-
ing to documents submitted
to the state Parks and Recre-
ation Department.
“The intention was to
kind of boost the morale of
the community and to show
that the beach is not a scary
place, that it is safe to come,”
Murdy-Trucke said.
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well documented — was a
relatively rinky-dink affair,
mostly concocted as a lark
for the children, many of
whom came dressed in cos-
tumes, she and other sources
said.
“It was mainly a com-
munity event that year,” she
said.
Murdy-Trucke added that,
like today, the event included
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did not include master sand
sculptors and high-stakes
judging.
So a sandcastle event of
some sort almost certainly
happened in 1964. On this
point, Bill Steidel, Peter
Lindsey and Billie Atherton
— three people who were ei-
ther involved in the event or
were around at the time — all
agree.
Confusion has cropped up
lately among some locals re-
garding the origins of Cannon
Beach’s Sandcastle Contest,
which received the Oregon
Heritage Tradition award from
the Oregon Parks and Recre-
ation Department last year.
That last year’s Sandcas-
tle Contest was variously
billed at the “50th Sandcastle
Contest,” the “50th annual
Sandcastle Contest” and the
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contest doesn’t help matters
(though, to be sure, any of
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the contest for the heritage
tradition award).
The orthodox narrative
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event in 1964, the year of the
Good Friday Quake — a 9.2
megaquake in early spring
that originated in Alaska and
sent tsunami waves crash-
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shores.
However, the Library of
Congress states that the event
began in 1965 “as a promo-
tional event for this small
Oregon coastal town.” Fur-
thermore, the Seaside Signal
archives from summer 1965
advertise the “1st annual ‘Annual’ vs. ‘anniversary’
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Sand Castle and Sculpture
Contest,” which took place in 1964, was planned as a
one-off, it wasn’t designated
July 29 that year.
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So what happened here?
was nothing annual about it
Origin story
yet. But, on the basis of that
In the wake of the earth- experience, the town decid-
quake and tsunami, which ed to make it an annual event
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Cannon Beach will host its annual Sandcastle Contest Saturday, June 20, the oldest competition of its kind in the Pacific
Northwest and the most popular event. Dozens of teams of professional sand sculpture artists, amateur groups and fami-
lies will construct remarkable creations in the sand during the event which will celebrate its 51st year in 2015.
the following year, complete
with judging categories and
cash prizes.
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annual” Sandcastle Contest,
as publicized in the Seaside
Signal, was, in fact, the sec-
ond contest, that the “second
annual” contest was the third
contest, and so on.
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Haskell, who co-founded
Bruce’s Candy Kitchen in
Cannon Beach in 1963.
So — if one starts count-
ing from 1964, as tradition
dictates — the 2014 celebra-
tion marked both the “50th
annual” event and, yes,
50th anniversaryRIWKH¿UVW
event. But it was actually the
51st consecutive contest, not
the 50th Sandcastle Contest
— unless one starts the clock
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became “annual.” This year,
then, marks the “51st annu-
al” event but the 52nd con-
secutive event.
Lasting legacy
Historical hair-splitting
aside, one thing appears
beyond dispute: The Good
Friday Quake, a formative
event that could have de-
stroyed Cannon Beach, end-
ed up revitalizing it. By cre-
ating the Sandcastle Contest,
the locals used the traumatic
episode to their advantage,
purposefully founding a leg-
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rather than tragedy.
And the estimated 15,000
to 20,000 visitors that drove
WR&DQQRQ%HDFKVSHFL¿FDO-
ly for the Sandcastle Contest
last year prove that the lega-
cy endures.
SCHEDULE FOR 2015 SANDCASTLE EVENTS
Now more than a 50-year tradition in Can-
non Beach, the community’s annual Sandcas-
tle Contest draws thousands of spectators
who view the monumental, but temporary,
sculptures by teams of professional “masters”
and amateur sand artists.
The 51st annual Cannon Beach Sandcas-
tle Contest will draw thousands of onlookers
beginning Friday, June 19 at 5:30 p.m., and
the weekend includes a series of other relat-
ed events that typically make this the busiest
weekend of the year in this small beach town.
Additional events planned for 2015 include
a parade, a folk music concert and a fun run
and walk. The Sandcastle Contest awards will
be announced Saturday at 12:30 p.m. on the
beach, making 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. the best
time for viewing the completed sculptures.
The Cannon Beach Sandcastle Contest
was recognized as an Oregon Heritage Tra-
dition by Oregon State Parks last year when
the event celebrated its 50th anniversary,
making it one of just 11 events statewide to
achieve such a designation. The contest was
founded in 1964 following an earthquake in
Alaska that created a tsunami, which washed
out the Ecola Creek bridge and flooded the
downtown area. Local residents got together
that summer to put on a community sand-
castle contest to raise spirits and draw visi-
tors back to Cannon Beach. The event grew
and, more than 50 years later, the Sandcastle
Contest weekend is still the busiest weekend
of the year for Cannon Beach.
Make lodging reservations early for this
popular weekend as hotels typically sell out
all rooms in advance. Day-trippers should
plan on arriving early. The Sandcastle Contest
is the only day of each year when the beach
is used for parking to accommodate the
large crowds. For information on the Cannon
Beach Sandcastle Contest or to find lodging,
visit www.cannonbeach.org or call the Can-
non Beach Chamber of Commerce at (503)
436-2623.
Online registration for all sandcas-
tle-building teams is also now open. Divisions
available are Masters, Open, Teen, Junior and
Sand Fleas. Visitors can also sign up online in
advance for the Shovel and Bucket Dinner or
5K Fun Run/Walk, as well as purchase Sand-
castle T-shirts and commemorative posters.
Ha ts off to the C la s s of 2015
G ra d u a tion is
a tim e of joy,
a tim e of grea t prid e,
a tim e of lookin g b a ck a t pa s t a chievem en ts ,
a n d a tim e of lookin g forw a rd to n ew b egin n in gs .
C on gra tu la tion s a n d m a n y bles s in gs to the C la s s of 2015.