FBRA Cancels Sand Sculpting Pro After Miscommunication With Town Officials

One of last summer's highlights in the Police Athletic League's 11th annual sand sculpture contest on Penfield Beach was cancelled this year after an apparent miscommunication between residents and town officials.

Paige Herman, president of the Fairfield Beach Residents Association, said Friday that Sean Fitzpatrick, a professional sand sculptor from Saugus, Mass., wouldn't be coming to Penfield Beach in August because the neighborhood group heard Penfield Pavilion's reconstruction may not be done by then. She said the FBRA voted April 6 to not ask Fitzpatrick to come to the festival.

But the Penfield Pavilion Building Committee had voted nearly two weeks earlier to spend $136,000 in overtime to get the pavilion reconstruction finished by July 4 - about six weeks before the FBRA wanted to have Fitzpatrick at the beach. "That's too bad. That was a miscommunication," Herman said.

Herman said Fitzpatrick had the chance to get another job from Aug. 25 to 27, when FBRA had wanted him to come, and that the neighborhood group already told him he couldn't come this year.

Unlike last summer, Fitzpatrick may not have been on the beach in August at the same time as PAL's contest.

Town recreation officials said Friday that PAL's request to hold its sand sculpture contest for amateurs was planned for Aug. 21 and that the Parks and Recreation Commission would vote on PAL's request at its next meeting. Last August's PAL contest featured dozens of sand sculptures by amateurs, including turtles, a dragon, motor boat, mermaids and a giant Oreo cookie.

But the most impressive sculpture seemed to be a sailboat that Fitzpatrick built on the beach.

The timing of Penfield Pavilion's reconstruction was more of a factor for FBRA than PAL because PAL's contest takes place on sandbars, while Fitzpatrick's display is on the beach, according to rec officials.

James Gallagher, chairman of the Penfield Pavilion Building Committee, wasn't available late Friday afternoon to confirm that the committee still planned to spend $136,000 in overtime to get the reconstruction of the pavilion done by July 4.