The type of sand sculptures showcased on Revere Beach in July will populate other beaches this year and an artist from San Francisco will turn one seaside expanse into a temporary work of art.
Save the Harbor/Save the Bay on Saturday plans to announce a total of about $204,000 that will help fund 35 different programs on the sandy shores that ring Boston Harbor.
One grant will help fund free swimming and kayak lessons at Carson Beach in South Boston available to youth groups around the region, along with a beach soccer clinic, said Bruce Berman, of Save the Harbor/Save the Bay.
The non-profit received $190,000 from the state and raised additional funds on its own for the programs in nine communities, supporting 70 different free public events.
“The Better Beaches Program grants offer a tremendous amount of value by financially assisting free public events that are both enriching and engaging,” said Department of Conservation and Recreation Commissioner Carol Sanchez in a statement provided through the non-profit.
Andres Amadore, of San Francisco, creates giant designs in the sand with rakes during low tide. The artist will teach people in Massachusetts how to do that one day, work with others to create a piece of art the next day and will finally create his own work, said Berman, who would not disclose what beach would serve as the canvas.
“These pieces only last the length of a tide,” Berman said.
The Revere Beach Partnership is receiving $20,000 from the group for its International Sand Sculpting Festival, and for the first time the group will fund the creation of sand sculptures on other beaches, Berman said. He said one such sculpture will be built on the North Shore and another on the South Shore.
An evening event in Hull where the harbor is illuminated will receive funding from Save the Harbor for the first time, said Berman, and the South Boston Neighborhood House is receiving $5,000 for family fun nights on the beach.
The group is using $500 to fund Quidditch on the Beach. The sport of quidditch was inspired by the Harry Potter novels.
Berman said he has learned that modest grants can generate great benefits now that the harbor has been cleared of pollution through a multi-decade court-mandated clean-up effort.
“We spent $5 billion cleaning up the harbor and the bay and these modest investments are what makes that investment work for people all summer long,” Berman told the News Service.
“At hearings from Nahant to Nantasket the commission heard repeatedly that modest investments in free events and programs can put these beaches to work for our communities,” Metropolitan Beaches Commission Co-chairman Sen. Tom McGee, a Lynn Democrat, said in a statement.
