The Galveston Sandcastle Competition, also known as the AIA Sandcastle Competition, is scheduled for September 13-14, 2025, at East Beach. The event features massive and creative sandcastles sculpted by teams of architects, with some engineers and contractors also participating. The festival includes a music festival with local and regional bands, food vendors, and various activities. Tickets are required for entry and provide access to the music, food, and activities.
Insider tips:
Sunday is for locals! Check out the completed castles from the AIA teams, and cheer on your favorite local sandcastle teams from 10am-3pm as the Central Middle School students compete against the Island Grappling Academy in our 2nd annual Local’s Sandcastle Contest. Park at Stewart Beach to skip the heavy East End traffic and take a shuttle. The shuttles run every 15 minutes to the Fest grounds.
And yes! Dogs are welcome if they stay on leashes and you clean up after them.
Every summer in Galveston, experience over 60 teams competing to win the prestigious Golden Bucket Award.
Bloody Mary Battle Sunday 11am-1pmWhose Bloody Mary will take home the trophy?
Additional voting ticket required to taste the Bloody Mary’s and cast your vote. Winners announced at 1pm! Want to taste them all? Don’t forget your tickets for the fest! |
The AIA SandCastle Competition is a fund-raising event for AIA Houston and ArCH Foundation as well as one of the top five revenue-generating events for the City of Galveston.
This year over 60 teams have their eyes and shovels set on winning the prestigious Golden Bucket Award.
Firms begin months in advance generating ideas, developing designs, and assigning duties.
On the day of the event the teams, stretched along the beachfront, meticulously sculpt their piles of sand and work non-stop for five hours.
The judging of the sculptures is rated on originality of concept, artistic execution, technical difficulty, carving technique, and utilization of the site.
In addition to the Golden Bucket, awards are given in several categories including Best Traditional Castle, Best Architectural Icon, Kidtastic! – LEGO Edition, Best Science Fiction, Best Sports, and Houston-centric as well as best team t-shirt design, best team signage, best costume, and public favorite.
At the end of the day, everyone goes home with memories of a great day at the beach filled with fun, sand, and sun.
Schedule
- 6:30am Beach opens for teams and sponsors
- 9:00am Public is encouraged to begin to arrive to watch the competition10:00am – 3:00pm Teams compete and build
- 1:00pm – 3:30pm Public favorite voting
- 3:00 – 4:30pm Judging
- 4:30pm Awards CeremonyPlus, free sandcastle building lessons from a professional sandcastle builder!!
Feel free to bring your own umbrella and cooler. Remember to pack for a long hot day. No glass containers.
You can set up along the shoreline, but not directly behind the team tents and not along the main walkway between the sponsor tents and participant tents. Those areas are designated for ambulance access.
Galveston Parks allows well-mannered dogs on a 6-foot leash.
Parking
Don’t forget that East Beach is Galveston’s dead end and traffic will bottleneck and can be tough. This will always be a problem as there are no other ways in or out of East Beach. So if you can, carpool and try to get in early.
We have no control over traffic and parking decisions made by Galveston P.D. and the Galveston Parks Department. Decisions of the flow of traffic, capacity, safety, and parking accessibility are slowed down further with the public with kids and teams with supplies walking towards the beach for the event.
Normally, East Bach closes at 6pm, but we have noticed, from public feedback, that Galveston P.D. sometimes ends entry to the event on East Beach an hour or two earlier.
AIA SandCastle does not set or control parking prices or take a percentage of it, but you should know that parking is $15 cash. No in and out privileges, you have to pay each time you enter the parking lot.
There are a few small free parking lots at the entrance of East Beach, but they fill up fast.
Limited wheelchair rental is available – check with the parking attendant for info. This is a beach so ADA accessibility is going to be difficult.
If shuttles are offered for the event, they are made available and managed by Galveston Parks Department. We do not control their traffic priority, stops, process, setup, or lines of people waiting for the shuttle. No pets are allowed on public transportation except for service animals.
PICNIC
Feel free to bring your own picnic: be sure to mind the City of Galveston’s rules and regulations governing East Beach. The snack bar is open for business and food trucks will be on site. To see park information, click here. Private team and sponsor tents are not open to the public.
UMBRELLA RENTALS
Reserve your beach umbrella & chairs in advance by contacting Robbie Carnes at East Beach Cantina and Rentals – (409) 974-5671
PETS
Pets are welcome on leashes.
SCULPTURES
Please respect the hard work of our participants by not touching any of the sand sculptures even after the event. Many spectators visit the beach the next day, on Sunday, to view and enjoy the sculptures.
