CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The 2024 Texas SandFest competition is just days away from hitting the Port Aransas Beach. Due to Mother Nature, organizers decided to move the event about three-tenths of a mile southward.
"We hadn't decided to make the move until this year when we began doing our set up about two weeks ago and Mother Nature brought the tide in quite a bit further than what we were expecting; even further than last year when we had some minor flooding," SandFest Vice President Richard Kay said.
This much needed relocation offers easier access for emergency vehicles and an improved system geared specifically to that coastal wind flow.
"We have about a five-foot-tall and about a 10-foot-wide sands berm that we've built," Kay said. "It's similar to the one we had last year and years past but this one is a little bit taller and a little bit wider and that will help protect us against the wind driven tide."
Mother Nature may have stirred up the move for the event but with Sunday's forecasted cold front, the winds shifting out of the North, will actually be a good thing.
"As a general rule, that north wind is going to cause that surf to lay down a little bit flatter," Kay said. "Which is really nice for us because we don't worry so much about the tides coming in and affecting us."
3NEWS also spoke with two long-time sand artists, Bruce Peck and Greg Grady, about the current weather conditions and how that has affected their artwork.
"This year the weather has been fantastic so far, really the perfect ideal conditions for sculpting," Peck said.
"Our big concern is the sun and the wind....yeah you pay attention, but you got the best professionals in the world out here at the Texas SandFest and they know what they're doing," Grady said.