New BrunswickTeams competed this weekend at the Bay of Fundy Sand Sculpture Festival in New River Beach, N.B.’As long as I get to carve what I want to carve, it’s all about the experience,’ says participantMark Leger · CBC News · Posted: Aug 04, 2025 3:23 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoKaren Fralich is a sand sculpture artist and festival organizer. ‘I’m happy to take pictures and walk away and let Mother Nature have her way with it.’ (CBC News)Guy-Olivier Deveau brought considerable experience this weekend to the Bay of Fundy Sand Sculpture Festival in New River Beach, N.B.Deveau was born and raised in the Magdalen Islands. He learned about sand sculpting from local artists and entered some local competitions. From there, he moved to Quebec City and carved out a career as a sculptor of wood, ice and sand.”I learned the basics of sand sculpting there because we’re surrounded by beaches on that island,” he said. “When I moved to Quebec City, I met up with some professionals and I became an apprentice with them and I started doing professional events.”A sculpture created by Guy-Olivier Deveau and Isabelle Gasse of Quebec. (CBC News)Deveau, who is the artist director of the Hôtel de Glace in Quebec, has since competed around the world. He was part of one of three teams that competed at this weekend’s sand sculpture festival.The teams built a sculpture a day, with judges picking a winner each day and a grand champion at the end of the weekend.Karen Fralich, a professional sand sculptor from Toronto and one of the festival organizers, says the size and level of detail distinguishes the work of the pros from the popular amateur competitions that have been hosted on this beach.”Some of them are eight feet high and about 10 feet wide,” Fralich said. “They’re probably 10 to 15 tons of sand that they’ve compacted in about two hours before they began carving it. They only have seven hours from start to finish to complete their masterpieces. It is a marathon.”A sand sculpture of an octopus was one of the pieces created at the Bay of Fundy Sand Sculpture Festival. (CBC News)Deveau’s piece on Sunday was abstract — a circular sculpture with four faces emerging from the sand.A sand sculpture of whale vertebrae at the Bay of Fundy Sand Sculpture Festival. (CBC News)People from around the region attended the festival, including Tyler Slipp, and his children, Payton and Wyatt.Payton admired the beauty of the pieces, especially compared to what kids produce for fun on the province’s beaches.”If I try to make a sandcastle, it almost just looks like a toddler made it,” Payton said. “When these people [do it], it’s just amazing. They could just spend their whole lives working on something like this and just for people to look at and then eventually it would just be washed away.”Payton, Tyler and Wyatt Slipp attended the festival. ‘If I try to make a sandcastle, it almost just looks like a toddler made it,’ Payton said. ‘When these people [do it], it’s just amazing.’ (CBC News)Fralich says sand sculpture artists are at peace with the temporary nature of their pieces.”As long as I get to carve what I want to carve, it’s all about the experience,” she said. “Then I’m happy to take pictures and walk away and let Mother Nature have her way with it.”ABOUT THE AUTHORMark Leger is a reporter and producer based in Saint John. Send him story ideas to: mark.leger@cbc.caWith files from Victoria Walton
New River Beach hosts professional sand sculpture competition
