At the far north end of Starlite Beach, Greg and Julie Manning, of Virginia, patted a handful of sand onto the nose of a Native American face.

Team Manning Maniacs, who won the six-or-more builders division, nearly skipped the sandcastle building contest, said group member Barb Whiteman, of Illinois.

Scooping sand “doesn’t sound like much fun when it’s 58 (degrees) and raining,” Whiteman said.

Rain stopped in time for sand builders to get creative.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Sand designer Liam Johnson searches for judges to inspect his team’s hippo head during The Alpena News annual sandcastle building contest on Monday.

Further down the beach, repeat-sandcastle team The Pakes — Amber, Natasha, and Ashley Pake — smoothed the sides of a fierce-looking dragon.

Several years ago, Amanda Pake took first place in The News’s contest with a sandy American eagle.

“Be careful,” Natasha Pake cautioned as teammate Ashley nestled stones in the dragon’s tail. “I already fixed that part around 20 times.”

The dragon — named Gizmo, its creators said — took first prize in the one-to-five builder division.

First-timers Jennifer Johnson, of Hudsonville, and Jackie Stanifer, of Alpena, took home a second-place prize in the same division with their artists’ rendition of a hippo’s head emerging from the sand.

News File Photo Youngsters work on a sand creation at Starlite Beach during The Alpena News 2022 sandcastle building contest in this News archive photo.

“We picked it because we thought it would be easy,” Stanifer said. “It wasn’t.”

Youngster Liam Johnson, who also helped with the hippo project, pranced in the sand near judging time, eager for judges — or anyone else — to look at the artwork he’d helped create in the slightly-soggy sand of Starlite Beach.

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693 or jriddle@thealpenanews.com. Follow her on Twitter @jriddleX.

Sandcastle contest winners

In the six-or-more builders division:

News Photo by Julie Riddle From left, Natasha Pake, Amber Pake, and Ashley Pake pose by their creation, Gizmo the Dragon, before judging at The Alpena News annual sandcastle building contest on Monday. Team Pakes won the one-to-five builders division and the People’s Choice Award.

First place: Native American face, The Manning Maniacs

Second place: Spongebob landscape, Team Sandy Cheeks

In the one-to-five builders division:

First place: Gizmo the Dragon, Team Pakes*

Second place: Hippo head, Crazy Family Fun

News Photo by Julie Riddle Children play in the sand during The Alpena News annual sandcastle building contest on Monday.

Third place: All-American turtle, Team Jammy

In the kids division:

First place: Trogdor, the Burninators

Second place: Bikini Bottom, Jasmine and the Sponges

*Denotes People’s Choice Award

News Photo by Julie Riddle Beach visitors chat with Bobby the Cockatoo during The Alpena News annual sandcastle building contest on Monday.