Image: Chantelle Deacon
The start of Rona’s attempted Ursula sandcastle.
The 37th annual Penticton Peach Festival sandcastle building competition Thursday had an even stronger turnout than expected.
Held every year at Skaha Beach during Peachfest, the event attracts impressive sandcastle building skills, while raising money for local charities. Last year the Penticton-Okanagan Rotary Club raised about $5,000.
“This year was exceptionally good because we sold out in less than an hour,” said Rick Covell member of the Penticton-Okanagan Rotary Club. “You never know from one year to the next how many people are going to show up.”
The volunteer team started setting up at 12:30 p.m., on Aug. 10, to water down the sand and make it usable for the sculptures.
“There is corporate teams, family teams, individual teenagers and young kids under 12, all competing for a prize,” Covell said.
The Rona Home Centre in Penticton staff were competing in the event, with the goal of making a popular animated character.
“We were building Ursula from The Little Mermaid but he isn’t no Ursula,” said Chad Mielke owner of Rona Penticton. “It’s going to be an octopus man, a very homely looking one.”
The Rona in Penticton donates about $2,500 to the event. The teams that wins the corporate competition donate $500 in winnings to a local charity of their choice.
Last year, Rona Penticton won the corporate competition and donated their winnings to the South Okanagan Woman In Need Society.
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