Texada Islanders are preparing for their premier summer community festival—Sandcastle Weekend—Saturday and Sunday, August 1 and 2, at Gillies Bay.
Designed for family fun and entertainment, activities kick off Saturday at 10 am with decorating of trikes, bikes and scooters to participate in the parade that starts at 11 am. The parade also includes fun floats, bands, cars and lots more, travelling a short route on Gillies Bay Road from just south of the village up to the RCMP station.
After the parade, people can enjoy chalk-drawing and a whole bunch of activities for children at the old school in Gillies Bay, which is located next door to the firehall. Something not to miss is the bed races at the tennis courts. This is a crowd favourite where a hospital bed is provided and teams get together and join in the fun.
Both Saturday and Sunday feature skim-boarding lessons on the beach. Food and craft vendors surround the ball field in Gillies Bay where there will be an ongoing softball tournament and anyone wishing to play needs to show up at 9 am Saturday and bring their own glove. Bingo is played in the afternoon on Saturday and a pork roast dinner starts at 5:30 pm that evening.
Then, entertainment moves to Shelter Point Park for an evening of fun, including a LipSync Contest, moon bags on the tide, and a dazzling professional laser light show. Anyone can enter the LipSync Contest by attending with their song on CD, wearing any costume, and having fun showing off for cash prizes.
Sunday starts with a pancake breakfast at Texada Community Hall in Gillies Bay, then everyone heads to the beach to build sand sculptures and vie for the top prize in several categories. Judging is by people’s choice, so whether a person builds a castle or not, everybody should be out on the beach voting for their favourite.
Sunday wraps up with awards at the ball park around 3 pm. Plus, there are activities at the ball park venue all day Saturday and Sunday with many types of craft and arts vendors, food galore, the ball tournament and a beer garden.
Every year, Sandcastle Weekend proves to be an enjoyable time to spend on Texada, filled with family fun.
