SandScapes Making Sandy Sculptures at Benton County Fair

SAUK RAPIDS -- The Benton County Fairgrounds may be far from any oceanfront beaches, but a California company is bringing their sculpture talents here anyway.

SandScapes is a sculpture company out of California that specializes in large, intricate sand sculptures. They travel around the country performing in contests both large and small.

Karen Fralich is one of the sculptors, she says the contests aren't always on the beach.

"Sometimes they're on the beach, sometimes they're not even close to the beach. In that case, they'll truck in sand from a quarry that's suitable for sand-carving."

Fralich says the sculpture she's working on requires about 35 tons worth of sand, which is all taken from local quarries. Fralich says it's taken several years just to get a handle on the craft, let alone become the artist she is.

"Took me about four years just to learn the rudimentary parts of it and get productive at it. Then from there, I've just kept on honing my craft and going from there."

Fralich says she puts in around eight hours every day into the sculpture.

She's been working on her sculpture for a few days now. It's nine feet tall and nine feet wide. While Fralich says she's been "sworn to secrecy", you can see her working on the sculpture until Saturday.

SandScapes project is in the Discover Building.