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Annual Sand Sculpting Contest Held In Coney Island

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) --- Sand sculptures of giant turtles and alligators covered the beach at the 25th Annual Coney Island Sand Sculpting Contest held at Coney Island Saturday.

Carmen Ortega, who carved an octopus and two minions with her grandchildren, told 1010 WINS' Carol D'Auria that it's not all about winning the contest.

"The family's together -- that's what this is all about," Ortega said. "And I love it."

Annual Sand Sculpting Contest Held In Coney Island

As you might suspect, there were lots of very ornate sand castles. A team of three men built one with three towers.

"Love to do cut-throughs, as you can see, there are holes in everything and it's challenging to not have the castle fall down when we do that," the men said.

And some creations didn't really work at all. There was one of a man -- that completely collapsed under the sun.

Follow #coneyislandsandsculpt to see the splendor in the sand.

1st place winners
Child group (7 participants)-Ari Blumenthal and Sasha Cohen with the Theme "Environmentalist"
Youth individual (2 participants)-Haley Munez with the theme "Penelope the Hippo"
Youth Group (13 participants)-Rosa Ricco and friends with the theme "The Crocodile
Mixed Group (23 participants)- Carmen Yobodo with the theme "Tentacles and Treasures"
Adult individual (20 participants)- John O'Keefe with the theme "Spirits of the Sea"
Adult group (14 participants)-Frank Russo with the theme "Harry Potter's Castle"

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