Epic Sandcastle Contest In Cannon Beach, Oregon

Cannon Beach, Oregon is one of the most popular destinations on the Oregon Coast. Every summer, there’s a massive Cannon Beach sandcastle contest, where fabulous sandcastle artists create masterpieces.
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They go way beyond the buckets and shovels of our childhood sandcastle days, and as a spectator you can see the tricks of the trade up close.
In today’s video, I’ll share the highlights of the Cannon Beach sandcastle contest and tips for your own visit. This video shows the 2024 sandcastle contest, which is a special one because it’s the 60th anniversary of the event!
We’re joined by our Little Explorer, who showed us that even if you’re not interested in sandcastles, you can have a fabulous time at Cannon Beach.
Cannon Beach is on the Oregon Coast, about an hour and a half by car from Portland.
For the sandcastle contest, the town opens up the beach for parking, or you can look for parking in town and walk in. We parked at a playground further down the beach and walked in, which was fun, but definitely not efficient.
Along the way, we passed the iconic Haystack Rock, with its incredible number of birds (yes, those are all birds on the rock!).
Contestants build sandcastles throughout the day, with judging happening for different divisions at different times. Divisions include age brackets for kids, teams of different sizes, and different experience levels.
I’ll share the winning sandcastles in the 2024 Masters’ Division in the video!
We went for the competition day only, but there are fun events the day before and the day after, including a sandcastle-building workshop and a 5K run, so it’s popular to make a weekend of it.
There’s also lots of great hiking in the Cannon Beach area. One of our favorites is the Indian Beach trail. Here is our video on that hike: • The Stunning Hike to I...