A favourite local event for the Gold Coast that brings hundreds of visitors daily to the streets of Surfers Paradise is the Sand Safari Arts Festival. Running from the 14th of February to the 1st of March along the Esplanade. A visual sensation that will delight, astound, and entertain, this is a fantastic free arts festival to get involved with.
What is it?
The Sand Safari Arts Festival is an impressive lineup of larger than life sand sculptures positioned along the beach in Surfers Paradise. These 17 days of fun will require 270 tonnes of sand for the sculptures to be brought to life, skillfully crafted into huge art installations in line with a fairy tale classic theme.
You can watch sculptors at work, enjoy live entertainment and shows, and interactive workshops. Perfect for all ages, this is a visually spectacular event guaranteed to impress. 15 professional sculptors will go head to head and battle it out to take home the winning title with the triumphant entrant announced on the 16th February at 5:30pm.
You can have your say with a gold coin donation giving you an entry into the People’s Choice competition, with the most popular sand sculpture installation as voted by the public being announced on the 29th of February.
The Harp of the City
There will be a huge carved wooden instrumental harps available for the public to try their hand at, placed along the beachfront amongst the sand art installations. Created by artists Joseph Burgess and Joshua Wilkinson, these are as beautiful to behold as they are inviting to play, and each has its own special design and sound.
Migration Soldier Crabs
Over the course of the festival, an installation including over 500 soldier crabs will spread over the Surfers Paradise beach as part of the contemporary installation designs by Clayton Blake. This incredible internationally acclaimed artist has also joined forces this year with Courtenay McCue to present eight huge tentacles positioned at Cavill Mall, telling the story of fairy tale creatures on the streets of Surfers Paradise.
The Artist Plaza
Cavill Mall hosts The Artist Plaza over the span of the festival, with an array of artworks from new artists right through to established artists in line with the SandSafari theme. You can take selfies with the mirror from Snow White, find Jack climbing his beanstalk, sit in for the Mad Hatter’s tea party, and so much more!
Make the most of the festival with a Gold Coast stay! Check out our comfortable holiday apartments on the Broadwater here.