Yesterday, I attended the Arvada "Sand in the City" Festival in Arvada, CO. Overall, it didn't live up to my expectations but I tend to think that it's because I wasn't sure what to expect. It was still a nice little festival. Here are my thoughts.....
*Inexpensive entry: It was $5 for adults (13+) and free for kids 12 and under. A percentage of the proceeds went to the Jeffco School system. This was a MAJOR plus for me on both accounts. Most of the "fun" was included in the $5 which makes it cheap, easy entertainment.....affordable entertainment is very, very nice.
*Vast array of local vendors for food, drinks and craft beer: Again, pretty affordable overall and a great assortment. They had everything from barbecue to spicy sausages to homemade ice cream and everything in between. Very, very impressed.
*Vendor tents: I was very impressed with the vendor tents as well. They were all well-arranged and the folks in them were incredibly friendly. My favorite happened to be the airbrushed tattoos. The gentleman inside was extremely pleasant and the tattoos were very affordable.
*Entertainment: The band playing when we were there were truly great. There was a big open area to spread out and watch them. I recommend making sure to bring a big umbrella, canopy, etc to make sure that you can stay shaded. If your kids are old enough and you feel comfortable with it, you can stretch out and let them just check in after the other fun stuff. What other fun stuff? Bouncehouses, inflatable hamster balls, bouncy slides, and more. Be prepared for LONNNNNNNG lines. Even to get face painting done, there was an incredibly long line which made the airbrushed tattoos all the more worth it.
*Sand sculptures: Okay so this is where my expectations were a bit skewed. I expected there to be sand everywhere...a ton of sculptures. There were nine total. While that was strictly my overly excited expectation, it kind of skews the theme of "Sand in the City" when there are only nine sand sculptures. It could have more easily been called "Beer and Brats in the City" for the sake of accuracy. With that said, the sand sculptures were absolutely incredible. With themes from "animals" to "minions" to "the three little pigs" with some "dragons" in between, it was absolutely amazing. My personal favorite happened to be a dragon on a castle with glittery purple and green scales built in. Hopefully another year there will be more of them.
Overall, I'd say that it's WELL worth the money to go and attend. If you have very young children, my recommendation is to be prepared to prioritize because the lines will be long for entertainment. If you have older children that are able to explore a bit "on their own" within the confines of the fair, bring something to shade yourself and enjoy the entertainment while they go and explore the inflatables and long lines. I will be returning next year with different expectations but no less impressed with the beautiful sculptures!
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