Vagabond Tales- Sand Castle Training from a Master

February 9, 2022

Mark Flynn of Santa Rosa Beach, Florida is a retired sand castle sculptor. Harry contacted him before we visited, explaining how he loved to play in the sand making sculptures. They went back and forth a few times and Mark invited Harry to contact him when he arrived and maybe they could get together to chat. They picked a date…today…Mark road a bike with a little cart behind him with his sandcastle tools in it and he met us at the Kith and Kin Coffee Shop. So, off the three of us went to see if Harry could learn any new tricks to add to his sand sculpting arsenal. Right off the bat Mark wasn’t sure of the wind. It was fairly brisk today. The temperature was 60° but I am sure with the wind chill if felt much colder to the guys dressed in shorts. But he was a good sport and the two of them sat in the sand and swapped stories and tips! Their ultimate end result was less than what either of them were capable of, but they stayed at it for a couple hours and when Mark could stand the cold no longer…we packed up and made our way back to the coffee house to warm up!

Back at Kith and Kin, we looked through some of his commissioned sand castles. One large heart he had done was part of a marriage proposal. He told of one he had done of Harry Potter and a castle sculpture, he had just finished…and before the newspaper reporters and judges saw it in the morning…the large tower had completely fallen and covered up half the other work they had done. Guess we shouldn’t build our houses with or on sand, if we want them to last. Spoiler Alert! Did you know some sand artists spray their work with a mixture of wood glue and water? Some even use styrofoam to get height.