‘B’ Street Pier
1140 North Harbor Drive
San Diego, CA 92101

2019 Winners
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What

Looking for a fun event over Labor Day weekend in San Diego?

Well, look no more! It’s a 3-day extravaganza for the whole family!

We’re changing the name of America’s 8th largest city between Sept. 5th and 7th, 2020.  We’re calling it SAND iegoTM.  Not only that, we’re building a beach high above the water, bringing 300 tons of sand to the ‘B’ Street Cruise Ship Terminal Pier, with our Big Bay on the West and downtown’s castles in the sky on the East.  It’s been called the most creative atmosphere in the world.  There’s nothing else like it anywhere.

World Master Sand Sculptors come from the Netherlands, Italy and Canada, from exotic places like Latvia and Russia to challenge the best in the U.S.  Their dimensional art is astounding.  You’ll fall in love with it.  But you can’t take it with you.  The sculptures weigh over 10 tons each and they’d ruin your lawn.  So we have over 2,000 works of art that you can fall in love with, buy and take home.

Oh, and there’s live entertainment (tribute bands, singers and more), a crazy giant sand box and rides for kids, a dozen gourmet food trucks, a fantastic view of the bay and all the great stuff that you always find on the Embarcadero, like Seaport Village and the Headquarters, the Maritime Museum and more. How about a double-header with the U.S. Sand Sculpting Challenge on Sat. afternoon and the Padres v. Giants at Petco Park at night? Or world-class sand sculpting on Sunday afternoon followed by world-class dinner in Little Italy or the Gaslamp? Or how about doing a downtown weekend?

What more can you ask for?  What else is there?

Astonishing sand sculptures

  • World Masters Class: 12 master sculptors carving solo for 4 days, starting on Wed., 9/2, before event opens to the public, and ending at 2pm on Sat., 9/5… the World against the U.S…. the finest sculptures ever seen in San Diego.
  • I.B. Challenge Class: the 3 championship teams that perennially won the old U.S. Open Sandcastle Competition in Imperial Beach from 2000-2011 compete once again … now 4 professionals on each team carving for 2 days (all day Sat. and Sun. until 2pm)

Dimensional art for the home and garden and for you to wear

  • Metal, stone and wood
  • Hand-made clothing, accessories and jewelry
  • Glass, acrylics, ceramics
  • Wall art
  • Much more

Entertainment all weekend long

  • Big bands paying tribute to the Beatles, Beach Boys, Dylan, Journey and other greats — even a special appearance or two by Elvis. (He lives! And loves sand sculpture.)

Gourmet food

  • A dozen food trucks and vendors with more than 100 menu items from all over the country and the world

Kids activities

  • Sandbox, sand sculpture classes, Bubble Fun, European Bungie and more

Support kids educational charities

  • A full 50% of net proceeds go to selected educational non-profits who provide volunteers to help with the event. Past recipients have included the San Diego School for Creative and Performing Arts, e3 Civic High, Arts for Learning San Diego, University of Saint Katherine, San Diego Padres Foundation, Princess Project, and Maritime Museum kids’ educational programs. Qualified charities may apply to be included for 2020. This year’s designees will be announced in July.

USSSC + DAE is cancelled.

It was our great honor to have produced this iconic event for 8 years.  USA Today had named it to the ‘Top 10 in the Nation’ and American Express called it ‘one of the top 20 seaside festivals in the world’.

Hundreds of millions of media impressions were registered worldwide and over 40,000 attended the festivities each year on the downtown San Diego embarcadero. 

We thank the Master Sand Artists from Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas who created magnificent sculptures from nothing more than sand and water, as well as the artists who work in other media, the entertainers, food providers, sponsors, media, staff, suppliers, volunteers and the Port of San Diego who made the event possible.

Should a title sponsor or new production company wish to bring it back to benefit local non-profits and the Southern California community at large, we will endeavor to help advise as long as we are able. 

For now, enjoy the website from years past.*

Thank you once more.

Joyce and Gordon Summer, Executive Producers

on behalf of Bruce, Tricia, Steve and the entire USSSC team.

This Website sculpted one grain at a time by Web Services Management.