Myrtle Beach

Myrtle Beach has high hopes in bid to build tallest sand castle

CHARLESTON, S.C. April 15, 2006

Myrtle Beach already holds the record for the world's longest sand castle. Now the resort town wants to add a record for the tallest.

The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce says sand sculptors will try to build the world's tallest sand castle during the resort's annual Sun Fun Festival, May 31-June 7.

In 1991, an estimated 10,000 people helped create the world's longest sand castle at the beach. That sand castle wound up and down the beach for more than 25 kilometres.

The record still holds, according to the Guinness World Records website, www.guinnessworldrecords.com.

The record for the tallest sandcastle is 8.9 metres, held by Parkfest, in Falmouth, Maine, for the past three years.

Myrtle Beach plans a sand castle that is over 10 metres tall. It will use 70 dump trucks full of sand and have a base that is 18 metres wide. The sand castle will be built on the beach near the popular Myrtle Beach Pavilion. Team Santastic, which is comprised of eight sand sculptors, has been contracted to build the castle.