Darrell O'Connor, Delaware
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.”
During the week I work as a computer systems analyst with AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals supporting and implementing Enterprise Software from German Software Company SAP. I live in Wilmington Delaware, but for the past 30-plus years, I’ve spent summer weekends playing in the sand at Dewey Beach. After some encouragement from family and friends, I entered my first contest in the mid 80’s in Rehoboth Beach Delaware. While I didn’t place in that first competition, I continued to compete locally eventually winning the Rehoboth contest 9 times. In 2014 I ventured outside of Delaware and met master sculptor Matt Long at his pro-am
contest in Wildwood Crest New Jersey and a quick friendship developed over a mutual love of building castles in sand. After years of trial-and-error sculpting, my castles became exponentially better now that I had someone to critique my work and show me new techniques. It was Matt who suggested that I enter the amateur contest at the Siesta Key Crystal Classic in Florida where I met Albert Lucio Jr who encouraged me to come to Texas to compete in the amateur contest at Texas Sandfest. The vibe at Sandfest was like nothing I had experienced before, and my sand life was changed forever when Albert invited me to compete as a semi-pro in 2021. Needless to say, the opportunity to meet and sculpt in the same gallery with Master Sculptors that I’ve admired from afar for years has been one of the highlights of my 30-plus years of sand play.
I’ve created castles for numerous beach weddings and marriage proposals and lent my skills to several Delaware fundraisers and festivals including the Delaware State Fair, the Rehoboth Beach Sea Witch Festival, the Children’s Beach House Annual BBQ, the Dewey Beach Summer Vibes Festival, the Bridgeville Apple-Scrapple Festival, the Dover Days Festival, the Great Delaware Pumpkin Carve, the Big Draw Art Festival, and the annual Polar Plunge for Special Olympics.
