Beach Day
Beach Day
Buckets, spades and a shot at glory
Free, all ages, Saturday 1 August at Black Sands Beach.
Follow the parade to the beach
Beach Day starts with the opening parade winding through the village and finishing at Black Sands Beach. From 12:30pm it's free sandcastle fun for all ages, so just follow the crowd down to the sand.
Find Black Sands Beach →How the day runs
12:30pm
Registration opens
1:00pm
Building starts
2:00 to 2:30pm
Judging
3:00pm
Raft race prep and kids' sock wrestling
4:00pm
Raft race starts
Kids Rowing Race
Kid's rowing race at 4.30pm on Saturday the 1 Aug (beach day)
Pick your category
This year's theme is the 2026 Commonwealth Games, so let your creativity run wild with natural materials found on the beach. (The sand will be thoroughly inspected for buried pole vaults, hurdles and javelins.) Enter in any of four groups:
Sandcastles
Groups of children or adults
Sculptures
Groups of children or adults
Individual children
Castles or sculptures, solo
Groups of children
Castles or sculptures, as a team
What to bring
Buckets, spades, your best creative flair and, fingers crossed, some sunscreen. The day is free and open to all ages. Grab a drink and a Festival burger while you're there and make a day of it.