Penfield Beach Turns Into a Sandy Guggenheim

Penfield Beach looked like a sandy Guggenheim on Saturday, with dozens of sand sculptures that included mermaids, castles, turtles, a shark, flip-flops and even an Oreo cookie.

"We did a shark in honor of Shark Week for the Discovery Channel," said Jess Konkol, 16, of Monroe, who worked on the massive, but harmless, beast with her mother, Donna Konkol; her siblings, Colleen, 13, and Kyle, 10; and her Trumbull cousins, Juliana McKeown, 5, and Nicholas McKeown, 2, and their dad, Todd McKeown.

The shark created by the Konkols and McKeowns was one of the largest sculptures entered into the Police Athletic League's 11th annual sand sculpture contest, and Jess said building a big mound of sand from which they could sculpt the shark's body was the most time-consuming part.

"It's a lot of shoveling. The hardest part is making the big mound," said Donna Konkol.

After the big mound was in place, Jess said she mostly carved the shark's fin and tail. "Everyone would make a part, and if we thought it needed to be polished, we'd go and fix it," she said.

Jess was pleased with how the shark came out and was glad she and her family entered the sand sculpting contest. "It's something to do, and when you're done with it, you're like, 'Oh, I made that.' It's a nice sense of accomplishment," she said.

Jeanette Debek, 10, came up with the idea to sculpt a giant Oreo cookie, and she and her family spent about two hours creating the sculpture, which was the buzz of the beach more than 50 yards away.

"No one ever thought of this, and I felt hungry at the time," Jeanette said of her inspiration. She said the hardest part of sculpting the giant cookie was making sure the top didn't cave in.

Cindy Debek, Jeanette's mom, said the family used to do two sculptures in PAL's contest in the past - she and Jeanette would do one, while Todd Debek, her husband, and Jack Debek, 13, Jeanette's brother, would build another one. "We always did it the boys against the girls," she said.

The Debek's always try to come up with original ideas and did a pizza a few years ago, Cindy said. "This is at least our fifth year. I think it's probably our sixth. One of us has placed every year," she said. "It's a big event. We have to come do it every year. It's a tradition."

As of 1:20 p.m., Bob Seirup, PAL's secretary, said 51 teams had been entered into PAL's 11th annual sand sculpting contest and that the contest usually drew between 55 and 75 entries. He said first-, second- and third-place prizes would be awarded in four categories and that the prizes included gift certificates to the Community Theatre in downtown Fairfield and to McDonalds.

"We try to keep the prizes reasonable and not too expensive...We want this to be a fun event," Seirup said.

PAL had trouble getting entries when the sand sculpture contest first started, said Pat Dyer, a member of PAL's board of directors. "We had to drag them off their blankets to get them in the first year," he said.

The Mello family from Derby created one of several turtles on the beach and decorated its top with colored shells. "We were going to make a castle, but it turned out like a turtle," Gabriel, 8, said.

Ludmila Mello, the mom of Gabriel and Daniel, 7, said she and the boys used to sculpt sand turtles on the beach when they lived in Brazil and she was happy with how the Penfield Beach turtle turned out. "It's a good experience for them, a nice fun time," she said.

Haley Halibozek, 17, and her family and friends also built a big turtle. "We really wanted to emphasize details so we could set it apart from the different sculptures," she said. "I just like that we all came together, everybody had their own job and helped in their own way to make this great turtle."

Haley said the big turtle hadn't been named, but she came up with a name in a few seconds. "Speedy," she said.

Mermaids also were a popular sculpture this year, and Alanna Ferrigno, 12, of Stratford, was happy with the one she was sculpting at her sister's request. "It's coming out a little better than the crab did," she said.

Alanna did most of the sculpting, while her sister, Julianna, 9, and grandmother, Dotty Ferrigno, of Fairfield, looked for shells and seaweed to decorate the mermaid.

Alanna said she'd never created a sand sculpture before, but she knew enough about mermaids to sculpt one. "When I was little, it was a big thing. My mom would read me stories about it," she said.

Dotty was pleased with how the mermaid came out. "I think they're very talented. I'm very proud of my granddaughters," she said.

The big Oreo cookie wasn't the only unique sculpture on Penfield Beach Saturday afternoon.

Olivia McLaughlin, 13, Acacia Galle, 14, and Paige Hanley, 13, all of Fairfield, didn't plan to enter PAL's contest but decided to after they ran into friends who encouraged them to give it a try. The three friends created giant flip-flops.

"We came to the beach today because it was a nice day and saw some people, and they said, 'You should enter.' It was fun," Olivia said.

Paige said, "Maybe next time, we'll build an Ug," adding that Ug is a winter boot.

Of course, a sand sculpture contest has to have a sandcastle, and an impressive looking one, built by Phillip Lauterborn, a Fairfield youngster, and his friend, Elliot Dolzani, 8, wasn't even entered in PAL's contest.

Mike Lauterborn, Phillip's father, said he and his son build sandcastles at Penfield Beach all the time. Phillip said the hardest part was creating the big mound of sand from which to sculpt the castle.

"I think these guys have done an awesome job," Mike said. "I think Phillip's destiny is to be an engineer because he really likes to build."

But the Lauterborns don't just have fun building the sandcastle. They have fun after it's built too.

"Typically we build it and we get a pail of rocks, and we're like human catapults. They're as much fun to build as they are to bomb," Mike Lauterborn said.

First Selectman Ken Flatto was on the beach and said he particularly liked an iguana, volcano and a couple of the sandcastles. "They're really putting a lot into it. There are a lot of great displays," he said. "We're very appreciative of PAL doing this. It's a great community event."

Haley, who built the giant and detailed turtle with her family and friends, said she'd be a little sad when the tide came in and took it away. "We took pictures, though. We'll have a lasting memory," she said.