Experience a fantastic family day by the lake at the Cobourg Sandcastle Festival on Saturday, August 2, 2025. Unleash your creativity, and soak up the sun on Cobourg’s beautiful beach. Whether you’re a seasoned sand artist or just looking for a fun-filled summer outing, this festival promises a day of excitement, and lakeside charm. Grab your shovels and pails — the Cobourg Sandcastle Festival is back!
Families, businesses, adults and youth may enter to create their own sculptures or castles and win cash prizes! Read more about the competition and the rules for entry here.
Not interested in building? Come see the Master Sculptors at work. Take pictures, enjoy the music from the live DJ, visit the Farmers’ Market in the morning and play-all-day in the inflatable park. Don’t forget your sunglasses, hat and sunscreen.
The fun doesn’t end when the sun goes down. Bring your snacks, beach chairs, blankets and bug spray and enjoy watching an outdoor movie on the inflatable big screen in Victoria Park right by the Bandshell.
This event has been recognized by a Pinnacle Award with the International Festival and Awards Association and named as one of the top 100 Events several times by Festival and Events Ontario. You don’t want to miss it!
Sandi “Castle” Stirling, from Dundas Ontario, has been sand sculpting since 1995.
Of those 30 years, the last 20 years have been at the Master level creating works of sand art in both Canada and the USA. She has won many awards in Port Huron MI, SPI TX, Fort Myers Beach FL, Revere Beach MA, Parksville BC, CNE Toronto ON, Bronte ON, Sauble Beach ON, The Texas Sand Fest in Port Aransas, Cobourg Beach ON and Wasaga Beach ON.
For many years she taught children at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto how to build bigger and better sandcastles.
Her latest claim of fame is competing on the CBC reality show called “Race Against the Tide Season One” in New Brunswick with her sand partner Sharon Nesbitt. They were known as the Sand Grannies.
When not sand sculpting, you can find Sandi in Dundas and Port Dover helping with her daughter’s Norfolk Juice Co juice bar business. Or taking seniors on group travels around the world.
Sandi will tell you that “In every pile of sand is a castle just beckoning to come out, I just need to carve it out”.
Tom is an accomplished sculptor who works in both sand and snow. He has been carving since 2020 and his creations have been seen in local newspapers and Our Canada magazine.
When not at a competition or festival, Tom stays connected with sand and snow by carving in a Sculpture Centre in his front yard near Peterborough. If you are interested in viewing his creations, you can find Tom on social media as “Frontyardcarver” He loves meeting people so be sure to say hello.
Mike and Rachelle are a married couple from Saint-Hippolyte-des-Laurentides, Quebec, Canada.
We discovered sand sculpting while vacationing in the Magdalen Islands, spontaneously entering a sandcastle competition. We’ve been sculpting together for 20 years, under the name “Thing Big.” We’ve entered numerous competitions.
It was in the Magdalen Islands that we first became interested in sandcastles. Over the past 20 years, it has grown from a simple hobby to a passion.
We learned the basic techniques with Michel Lepire (world master), discovering and developing our artistic side over time. We have won first place and the public’s choice award several times in the Magdalen Islands and in Gatineau (Merveilles de sable), Quebec.
For several years now, we’ve been participating in Cobourg, but above all, the fun is still there. We share our passion on all the beaches we visit.
Rodney Watson is a self-taught, award-winning artist whose journey into the creative world began with a series of happy accidents—and quickly evolved into a lifelong passion. A versatile and accomplished artist, Rodney works across a wide range of mediums, including acrylic painting, colored pencil pet portraits, watercolor, scribble pen art, sidewalk chalk art, urban sketching, and professional sand sculpting.
His artistic talent and attention to detail are evident in every piece he creates, whether it’s on canvas, pavement, or a towering sculpture of sand. Rodney’s work has earned him recognition both locally and internationally, with clients spanning Canada, the United States, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Sweden, Germany, Scotland, and Spain.
With each new project, Rodney brings a unique blend of precision, creativity, and curiosity—constantly exploring new ways to express his vision through art.
I started sculpting in sand around 30 years ago while playing with my children. We built many sand castles together. I loved the way sand felt in my hands. I started experimenting with different building method and quickly discovered my favourite was the hand-stacking method.
I started entering local sand sculpting competitions (including Cobourg) and that led to commission work at festivals, businesses and weddings. I also had the pleasure to be on season one of “Race Against the Tide” on CBC.
Tanya Kastl discovered her passion for sand sculpting over 20 years ago. What began with simple drip castles on the beach soon evolved into intricate and expressive works of art as her skills and creativity grew. Inspired by her love of nature, Tanya often incorporates themes of wildlife and the ocean into her sculptures, bringing natural beauty to life through sand.
Over the years, she has earned recognition in numerous sand sculpting competitions and has showcased her talent on national television, including appearances on CBC’s Race Against the Tide and HGTV’s Cottage Makeover.
In addition to creating her own work, Tanya finds great joy in passing on her love of sculpting to others—especially her grandchildren—teaching them to explore their creativity and craft their own sandy masterpieces.
Sèveline Beauregard, from Québec, Canada, is one of the youngest professional carvers in the world. Her journey into the world of sculpture began in 2016, when her father and sister—renowned international carvers Guy and Mélineige Beauregard—invited her to join them on a few snow carving projects.
Gradually, Sèveline found her footing in the professional carving world. After gaining experience in snow and ice at prestigious events such as Gatineau’s Winterlude, the Québec Ice Hotel, and the Québec Winter Carnival, she transitioned into sand carving in 2018.
Since then, her talent and dedication have taken her beyond Canada’s borders, earning her several awards and opportunities to carve internationally. She is also the founder and owner of Sculpture BeauRegard, a well-known carving company based in Québec.
For Sèveline, carving is more than just a profession—it’s a way to express herself and fully embrace life.
To carve, you must be here, in the present moment. ~ Seveline Beauregard
Before discovering the art of sand carving in 2006, Joris Kivits worked as a freelancer across a wide range of creative fields. His background includes graphic design, art direction (and other roles within art departments for film and television), photography, illustration, mural painting, and designing as well as technically supporting presentations (PowerPoint and Keynote) for conferences.
In 2006, Joris participated in his first sand sculpture project in Lommel, Belgium. That experience sparked a lasting passion. The following year, he was invited to join more projects and began connecting with fellow sand artists. Through those connections, he had the opportunity to compete in his first international sand sculpture competition in Berlin, Germany, in 2008.
What continues to captivate Joris about sand sculpting is the blend of transience and transformation—the way intricate, expressive works can emerge in such a short time, only to disappear again. To him, sand sculpting is like a theatrical performance: something to be experienced in the moment, with memories and photographs as the only lasting trace.
Today, Joris focuses primarily on creating sand sculptures, using the medium as a way to express his ideas, imagination, and artistic voice.
Follow his work on Instagram: @joris_kivits
Bob Atisso is the Togolese sand sculptor with golden hands and a strong artistic imprint. Ephemeral creations are his specialty. An art form which translates the meaning of life. The secret of his sculptors comes from the field of physics.
He discovered his passion after 2000. His art was not well known in his country, so Bob left to test his talent to other artists of the same kind at the ephemeral festivals in the US, Europe, Asia and Russia. His creations have clearly drawn attention. Over the past years Bob Atisso has won the Public Award in India, the 2nd Prize at World Sand Sculpting championship in Taiwan, the 1st place of the mayor of Copenhagen, 2nd at the Sentosa Sandsation in Singapore and the list continues…
Words are not strong enough to describe the works of Bob. Extremely precise, it often happens that one wonders how such monu-ments can be built with almost exclusively bare hands and sand as only material. In his work, he masterfully presents African customs and habits or challenge on current events or social issues that poetically lead to reflection and make the specificity of the genius of this sculptor architect.
His specialty is sand sculpture, but he also excels with other materials, such as papier-mâché, terracotta or cement.
His next dream is to create a sand sculpture school in Africa.
Still have questions?
Children 12 and under are invited to join us at the Inflatable Village in Victoria Park. Play-all-Day bracelets will be available for $5 each (cash only). If you have a bracelet you can spend all day enjoying all the inflatable fun.
The fun doesn’t end when the sun goes down. Grab your lawn chair and snacks, bring a blanket and bug spray and join us by the bandshell for another Movie under the Stars
Movies the park selection will be announced at the beginning of Summer.
