Just a Day at the Beach in North Adams
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The event began in 1998, the brainstorm of artist and developer Eric Rudd, who owns property along the historic street.
Now in its 10th year, the annual tradition seemed a little crazy back then. Rudd recalled how worried he was the first year that no one would show up — and that rain might make his name Eric "Mudd." But as he and volunteers spread the 20 truckloads of sand (an estimated 250,000 pounds) along Eagle on Wednesday afternoon, Rudd was "relatively confident" that the party would be a success.
And how.
.JPG) Gianna Daley, 7 |
Shannon Barrett of North Adams sat on the curb in the shade as her 2-year-old son Ty sat in the sand.
"We came nice and early to get a good spot under the tree," said Barrett, adding it was her first year at the beach party but not her last. "This will be a ritual. It's great."
All along the street, children and families were busy burying each other, digging holes and creating a vast array of sand sculptures ranging from dragons to butterflies to the ubiquitous castles.
The Daley family of North Adams decided to mark the party's 10th year with a look at the past — and a pointed reminder of the spiraling cost of fuel.
"We keep complaining about the cost of gas, so we said, let's do a gas thing," said Michael Daley.
They formed two "pumps" displaying the difference between then and now (about $3 gallon). Last year, they made an American flag, said his wife, Tami Daley, and won a handcarved statue. The couple had been coming to the beach party for the last four or five years with their children Gianna, 7, and Ethan, 4.
Merchants along the street supplied prizes for the sculpture contest (carvings didn't seem to be among them this year, but there were plenty of toys, gift certificates and Beach Party T-shirts). Mildred Elly School supplied hundreds of small buckets and pails, although many people brought their own — along with beach chairs and bathing suits.
David Rancourt, 8, had been planning his particular creation for some time. He'd selected a butterfly to build last year, said his mom, Melanie Rancourt of Clarksburg. This year, it was a turtle.
"He makes sure he thinks of something before he comes," said Rancourt as David demonstrated how he had enhanced his turtle by grating colored chalk and spreading it about. Not far away, another David, 12-year-old David Shade, was protecting the large "volcano" he and sister and friends had built. A container of red-colored water sat the top while "lava" streaked its sides.
Farther down the street, a sandy SpongeBob SquarePants and his buddy Patrick echoed the beach theme; some kids made themselves part of their sculptures as the heads of dragons and occupants of silty beds.
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The skies were clear and the temperature was hovering around 90 degrees earlier in the day as Rudd and two helpers, Douglas Cornell and Donald Dix, shoveled out the bright, white donated sand trucked in from Specialty Mineral by the city's Highway Department. But by late afternoon, the buildings along the narrow street provided shady respites from the sunny day at the beach.It took hours to spread the sand (even as more helpers arrived) and even longer to haul it all away to the city yard. It was late into the night before final grains were cleared away and the beach was closed, at least until next summer.
