Day: August 18, 2025

Forget about paint and pencils. Sand was the artistic medium of choice in Brooklyn on Saturday, as dozens of artists gathered on the beach for the 33rd annual Coney Island Sand Sculpting Competition. 

Competitors from all over the country tuned out the bustle of the beach and boardwalk and got to work, using sculpting tools, spatulas, and even an old MetroCard to carve out their masterpieces. 

Each year, the contest draws dozens of artists and many more spectators. But even though sculptors are competing for a cash prize, for most, the day is pure fun.

“We kind of wing it, usually,” laughed Dawn Henning, who has entered the contest four times. “But it’s become a little bit of a family tradition.”

Last year, their sculpture was inspired by a New York City icon: the Pizza Rat. This year, they went for another classic New York critter: the bodega cat. 

Lots of people stopped by to talk, Henning said, and to swap stories about their beloved local bodega cats. 

“I like to make things, whatever it is,” she said. “It’s just a fun day. There’s music, it’s Coney Island, there’s a lot of characters.” 

Tony Cusicanqui, whose sand elephant won him the prize for “Solo Artist,” is an accountant from Long Island who started sand sculpting about five years ago after his kids urged him to try it.

It turned out that he was pretty good at it, he said, and loved doing it. So far this year, he’s created about 200 sand sculptures, including his prize-winning elephant. 

“It’s about making people happy, making people smile,” Cusicanqui said. “Saturday was a day where I like to say it’s the Smile Makers Club. We make the smiles.”

The sandy sculptures add a little extra joy to the beach, he said, whether it’s during a contest or not. Cusicanqui regularly gets messages from people who pass by his pieces on the beach and have their day brightened a little bit, he said.

“It’s one of those things where I’m able to let go of my desk job and focus on generating smiles,” he said. “It just brings a happy soul alive, and I’m that happy soul.”

Kathy Nichols, an art teacher from Cape May, took a workshop from a master sand sculptor several years ago. Ever since, she’s been traveling all around the country, entering sand sculpting contests.

Her piece — which won in the Adult Group category — was a riff on the famous painting “The Scream.”

“Coney Island is unique,” she said. “I just thought the personality of that painting fit with the Coney Island vibe a little bit … it was fun to see people start to recognize what it was.” 

The sand and weather present a unique challenge to the sculptors. One year, Henning said, it rained, and she had to re-sculpt her piece after the storm passed. This year, it was hot and dry. At one point, half her bodega cat’s head crumbled and had to be rebuilt.

“The quality of sand kind of dictates how much you can do,” Nichols said. “[Coney Island sand] is pretty challenging. But I’m familiar with the Coney Island sand, so I know I cannot do a lot of really small, fine detail work in Coney Island.”

‘We already won’

Though Henning didn’t take home a prize this year, she and her family plan to keep entering the contest. Some years, they’ve had three generations working together on the beach. 

“There aren’t many things that you can bring a couple of generations to do and participate in,” she said. “If you’re a family, and there’s kids, everybody can do some part of it. To me, that’s the part I love about it.” 

Nichols said she was surprised by her win — she and her husband were still cleaning up their station when winners were announced, she said — but exciting. When she and her husband walked off the beach, hungry after hours in the sun, they plunked down their prize money to buy dinner at a local restaurant. 

Last year was Cusicanqui’s first time entering the Coney Island Sand Sculpting Competition, and he took home a prize then, too. 

“It’s a lot of pressure to say you want to win and do it, but at the same time — and I kept hearing this from a  lot of people who were out there creating — that we already won,” he said. “That’s exactly how I felt, that we already won. That Smile Makers Club is going to be [winners] every time, regardless if there’s a contest or not. We’ve already been gifted the opportunity to make people happy.”