Cascade Head Biosphere stages sand art competition Saturday to help bring attention to its work

Oregon Coast TODAY **Teams of one to four people get a 20- by 20-foot square in which to create their sand art Saturday during the third annual event by the Cascade Head Biosphere Collaborative.**

By Oregon Coast TODAY

Feeling rakish? Test your temporary art skills and vie for great prizes when the Cascade Head Biosphere Collaborative presents the Sand Art Competition at Roads End State Recreation Site on Saturday, July 26.

Teams from one to four people will each get a 20- by 20-foot square in which to rake.

The event runs from 8-11 a.m. at the Roads End State Recreation Area, 5901 N.W. Logan Road, Lincoln City.

This is the third year of the contest, but the fifth year that the collaborative has been creating sand art at the same location in the shape of things that can be found in the Cascade Head Marine Reserve.

“We were creating these great sand graphics and people just loved them,” said the collaborative’s Staff Scientist and Project and Communications Manager Paul Robertson. “So we thought, why not let everyone get in on it? Plus we thought it would be another way to get the word out about the marine reserve.”

The reserve lies within the Cascade Head Biosphere Region, a 102,110-acre UNESCO designated site that also has within its boundaries the Cascade Head Scenic Research Area, Cascade Head Experimental Forest and the Cascade Head Preserve.

With support from donors and sponsors, the first place prize in the competition is a package valued at $500 provided by Chinook Winds Casino Resort that includes oceanfront lodging, two tickets to a show and dinner at the Rogue River Steakhouse. The second place prize is $200 cash and third is $100 cash.

“We’d like to get this as big as the sandcastle competition,” Robertson said. “We aren’t trying to compete with that and we will always do it on a different week, but it’s just another fun thing for people to do at the beach during the summer.”

Although previous art has run the gamut from land creatures to words, this year’s theme is “What can you see under the sea?”

“Part of the reason that we are excited about the theme is we are in the middle of releasing these amazing videos created by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Marine Reserve Program of what there is to see under the sea within the marine reserve,” Roberson said. “There is so much down there that we don’t even know about, like the amazing diversity of nudibranchs.”

To see the videos that have been loaded so far and that will be added throughout the year, go to the Cascade Head Biosphere Reserve channel on Youtube.

Though viewing the art-making in action and finished work is free, a suggested donation of $20 per team is requested to help support the Cascade Head Biosphere Collaborative and its programs for education, climate and community.

No previous experience is required and extra rakes will be available on-site.