LAKE COUNTY, Ohio — After a successful first year, the Lake Erie Sand Sculpture Tour is back. This time, there are more sculptures and more parks.
Carl Jara is a sand sculptor with more than 25 years of experience. He’s won over 100 hundred medals, including 14 from the World Championships. He says each sculpture except for Headlands has 10 tons of sand. That’s enough sand to fill 10 bathtubs.
The Headlands sculpture includes 15 tons of sand. Jara said he even brings his own sand for the sculptures.
“I packed seven layers of sand into each one of those forms, and then I can put another form on top, pack another seven layers and pack another seven layers in,” said Jara.
The tour includes five sand sculptures across five different parks within Lake County. Lakefront Lodge – Willowick, Mentor Lagoons Nature Preserve & Marina, Headlands Beach State Park – Mentor, Fairport Harbor Lakefront Park, Bill Stanton Community Park – Madison Township.
Greg J. Grady is another sand sculptor who built some of the sculptures. Grady is a second-generation sand sculptor with 20 years of experience. He has won several awards for his work.
Jara travels all over the world building creations like these, 15 countries, 38 states, and three Canadian provinces but he his favorite place is home. He lives in East Cleveland.
“I get to sleep in my own bed, bring my own food for lunch,” said Jara. “I get to see my kid every day and working and making money doing what I love to do. So, this is my favorite place to sculpt.”
This is the second Lake Erie Sand Sculpture Tour. Neil Stein, the executive director of Tour Lake County, said last year, more than 20,000 people visited the parks during the tour.
“A lot of parks that you’ll visit maybe they’re a little bit smaller, a little, you know, maybe on one end of the county or the other, and we want to encourage locals to go maybe try to check out these new parks and for visitors to come up,” said Stein.
There’s plenty to enjoy besides the sand, from boating, fishing and water sports to just catching some sun. Jara said the sculptures make people happy, and he loves giving people something to smile about. Stein said this tour is more than only seeing great art.
“A memorable experience, great public art, and a really fun activity that they’re going to remember and be able to tell people about for years to come,” said Stein.
The sculptures each take around 30 hours to make and only have sand as a base.
“It brings people this kind of unexpected pleasure, but it’s an opportunity to bring art to people who may or may not be ready to step into an art gallery,” said Jara.
The sand sculpture tour is on Saturday, July 11. It’s free and open to the public.
If you miss the event, most of the sand sculptures will be up through the summer.