Top Story - November: Siesta Key Crystal Classic returns, this time with lights

The Siesta Key Crystal Classic returned for its eighth year, and event organizers said it was better than ever.

The annual international festival saw four days of sand sculpting, live music and educational opportunities on Siesta's beaches.

In a new feature this year, the sand sculptures were lit up with colored lights until 9 p.m. on Nov. 10 and 11, offering visitors a new perspective on the sculptures. It’s something Maria Bankemper, the event manager, said was in the works for several years.

“It should be a spectacular display under the stars,” she said before the 2017 Crystal Classic. Bankemper has helped organize the event each year since it got started in 2010, and has seen it grow.

From expanding the number of vendors present, to adding live music and educational components, to being able to accept credit cards — each year the Crystal Classic happens is better than the last, she said.

The main event once again was a competition between 12 teams with two artists each, who spent 24 hours overall creating their sculptures. They competed for prize money and bragging rights.

Karen Fralich of Canada and Dan Belcher of the United States won this year with their Game of Thrones-inspired sculpture, "Winter is Coming."

“It’s a community event of the visual and ephemeral art — because it is of course only temporary,” Bankemper said. “Pictures are great, but if you’re not looking at it up close, you can’t really appreciate it.”

About 45,000 people attend the event from Nov. 10 through Nov. 13, and about 65% of those attendees were projected to be from out of town, Bankemper said. She said the 2016 Crystal Classic had more than an $8 million economic effect on the area.

“This is my eighth year as event chair,” Bankemper said. “Every year I am in awe. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen it.”