Different community groups will dot the shore of Whiffin Spit for the Sooke Community Arts Council’s fifth Beach Art event on Sept. 9.
According to Sandra Scafe, Sooke Community Arts Council president, Beach Art has gained momentum over time, with about 150 people coming out last year.
“Beach Art has sort of developed a life of its own,” she said, adding the community has evolved Beach Art into what it is today.
“We never said be on a team or wear a certain colour or anything. People just did it so it seemed to capture a sort of spirit of its own, and people just have a blast.”
With a two-hour time limit, groups claim a spot along Whiffin Spit and erect structures or sculptures built from items found on the beach.
“They can’t bring in any tools or anything from outside,” Scafe said. “If it’s got to be tied up with something it would have to be rope from the beach.”
Other then using impromptu sourced materials, the groups are given creative license to build whatever their minds conjure up.
“It can be 2-D, it can be flat, we get a lot of sea monsters and creative things,” she said, adding last year, a First Nations group crafted an entire scene with a chief, built out of driftwood, welcoming visitors in a canoe to land.
This year there will be three judges, Sooke artists Yo David, and Will Gordon and Councillor Maja Tait.
The judges, who will be travelling up and down the Spit via bicycle, will be evaluating each sculpture on degree of difficulty, creativity and originality.
“It’s a really hard job for the judges. I judged last year and we really had a tough time because there was so many that were really good,” Scafe said.
The event is one of four organized by the Sooke Community Arts Council, and the umbrella arts association hopes to continue long into the future.
“It just sort of captures the essence of the Sooke community, so it’s something that we really want to keep doing,” she said. “It’s to promote the community, the West Coast community of Sooke, and to celebrate the arts.”
Registration will begin at 12 p.m., and the event is free of charge. There will be cash prizes and rankings will go up to sixth place.