Hundreds participate in 37th annual Belmar beach sandcastle contest

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What can you make with a bucket of sand, some water, and colorful dyes? How about a dragon, a shark or even a monster truck course? “When people think of the summer, they think of Belmar. They think of D’Jais and they think of sand castles,” said Belmar Councilwoman Caitlin Donovan. Blue skies, a refreshing sea breeze, and wild imaginations – throw everything together and you have one of the region’s longest-running sand competition. “Her name is Luna, she’s a mermaid and she’s holding on to the moon for one more day,” said a man who goes by the “Long Island Sandman” from Gilgo Beach. For 37 years, people of all ages let their minds run wild on the 18th Avenue beach for the contest. A family from Colorado sculpted a scaled-down Monster Jam stadium obstacle course. Many of the sculptors on the beach say their goal is to walk away with the Best of Show award. This year’s winner is a dinosaur skeleton called “Jurassic Beach.” “We said we’re going to do a dinosaur thing again that can really showcase what we’ve learned how to do. And that was our inspiration for this – go big or go home,” said Robin Bhattacharyya, of Tinton Falls. The beach offered an opportunity to raise awareness for a little girl with Down syndrome – a sculpture in her honor. "We just like to bring awareness to it so people understand it and can love her just the same way as I love everybody else,” said Michael Perry, of Oceanport. A list of winners will be posted as soon as it becomes available. "