If you miss RiverFest you may never see why people get excited about “St. Charles Beach.” All week a professional sand sculptor works to turn 40 tons of sand piled onto the Municipal Building parking lot into an intricately crafted Fantasy Sand Sculpture, always appropriately themed for its sponsor and our riverside community. The “Beach” also is home to a giant sandbox especially for “open play” by kids.

    On the Wedesday before RiverFest weekend, an enormous pile of sand is trucked onto the parking lot, a gift from the Elmhurst-Chicago Stone Company’s operations just west of St. Charles in Kaneville,. The sculptor’s first effort is to pound the sand into massive forms up to 10 feet high. Beginning Thursday, the sculptor starts to reveal his fantasy from the top down. By Friday you might see a castle’s pinnacle, a dragon’s wingtips, the uppermost branches of a tree (check out photos of finished fantasy pieces by clicking on the gallery below).

    As the sculptor’s imagination and skilled technique release each piece from the mound of sand, the sculpture is sprayed with a bio-degradable solution of water and Elmer’s Glue to help prevent the detailed grains from flaking off.

    By Friday, the heads and bodies of featured fantasy folk have emerged. Saturday finds them settled into their themed arrangement. Not until Sunday, however, after 75 man-hours–talented hours of meticulous sculpting–does the full scene stand in its completed form. In other words, there’s something new and entertaining to see everyday of the week on St. Charles Beach.

Pictures of Previous Year's Sculptures:

• 2007
• 2006
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003
• 2002
• 2001
• 2000
• 1999
• 1998
• 1997
• 1996
• 1995
• 1994
• 1993