Free entry to Sentosa from 4-10 September to see huge sand sculpture exhibit!

 Come September, you can attend the Sandsational Fun at Sentosa event!

From 1-17 September, the island’s Siloso Beach will be home to Southeast Asia’s biggest sand festival. Plus, between 4-10 September 20171, Singapore residents will enjoy free entry into Sentosa via the Sentosa Express and Sentosa Gateway, as part of the resort island’s 45th anniversary celebrations!

Anchoring the three-week festival will be Sentosa Sandsation 2017, featuring more than 30 intricately-carved and larger-than-life sand sculptures of some five metres in height. Spread over 2,400 square metres of exhibition space on Siloso Beach, guests can journey through three zones showcasing different experiences, from 10am – 9pm daily.

Free admission

Guests can already enter the island free of charge via the Sentosa Boardwalk (until 31 December 2017), or opt to hop on to SBS Transit Bus Service 123 terminating at Sentosa’s Beach Station, which charges distance-based fares only.

Attractions during the event

Here are the attractions waiting for guests during the festival:

Zone 1: Our Sandsational Singapore (Singapore, Ho Say!)

Welcoming guests to the exhibition will be 15 three-dimensional intricately-carved sand artworks that depict various facets of Singaporeans’ everyday life, both past and present.

Passing through the multi-sensory exhibits marrying visuals with audio in the story-telling, guests will discover sand works inspired by local experiences, situations and phrases such as “So Jialat!” ; “Blur like Sotong, Gabra like Zebra”, “Jiak Zua” and “So Wayang” to name a few.

Users of the MixGo mobile app can catch special behind-the-scenes video features; enhance their experience with simulated photo frames and filters, as wellas gamification features that will provide added interactivity.

Zone 2: Sentosa International Sand Sculpting Championship

In the next zone, Sentosa will play host to 14 world-renowned sand masters from 13 nations across the world, who will be showcasing their creative sand works around the theme, ‘Imagination’.

Among the renowned participants of the championship are Sudarsan Pattnaik from India, David Enguerrand from Belgium, Leonardo Ugolini from Italy, Sergio Ramirez from Spain, Borecki Wiaczeslaw from Poland, Calixto Molina from Mexico, Aleksei Shchitov from Russia, Bob Atisso from Togo, among others.

These sand masters will pit their skills against each other from 28 – 31 August 2017, with the top three winners walking away with cash prizes totalling more than S$12,000.

Zone 3: Shifting Sand 2

Leading the team of sand sculptors for Sentosa Sandsation 2017 is JOOheng Tan, an internationally- acclaimed Singapore sand artist, whose works have been showcased in over 70 cities across more than 20 countries.

In the last zone, JOOheng will commemorate his 20th year of transforming ordinary sand into incredible artworks through a series of interactive sand art pieces. In this technique pioneered by JOOheng, guests will “step into” the art pieces and become part of the artwork. This showcase pays homage to his first solo exhibition held at Sentosa’s Palawan Beach back in 2010.

Visitors to Sentosa Sandsation between Mondays and Thursdays will be able to witness the master at work, while Sentosa Islander members will get the exclusive opportunity to snap a photo with the interactive sand works from Fridays – Sundays.

In the final week of the exhibition, JOOheng will also translate a child’s imagination of Singapore’s future into sand sculpture. The image will be selected from Sentosa’s Children’s Drawing Competition held from 10 – 28 August in conjunction with Sentosa Sandsation.

People’s Choice Awards

As they tour the exhibition, guests can take part in the People’s Choice Awards and pick their favourite sand sculpture by simply taking a photo with their favourite sand artwork, posting it on Instagram with the hash tags #SentosaSandsation and #SandsationalContest, while stating the reason(s) for their choice.

A winner will be drawn from the entries featuring the most popular sculpture, and he/she will walk away with a 2D1N Sentosa staycation package. Results of the People’s Choice Awards will be announced after 20 September 2017.

Night attractions

At night, guests can also head over to the Merlion Plaza and be entertained by the Merlion Magic Lights. This iconic and ever-popular light and music show will feature a new neon theme starting 1 September.

You can catch it daily until 29 October, starting at 7.45pm, with 30-minute show intervals until 9.15pm. Two additional shows will be held on weekends, eve of public holidays and public holidays.

From 2-3 and 16-17 September, guests can also choose to wind down the day at The State of Fun with beach-themed films at Movies by the Beach sited at Palawan Green.

Sandsational Deals

Getting to Sentosa Sandsation 2017 will be easy with special Sandsational Fun Ride deals.

On offer are special deals including 50% off a one-way ride onboard the Segway miniPro from Beach Station to the event site, and 20% off the unlimited Cable Car Sky Pass (50% off for local residents). These tickets can be purchased online at the Sentosa website or onsite.

In addition, guests will also get to enjoy an additional 10% off at the event’s food kiosk, Wavehouse Sentosa and Good Old Days by flashing any of the abovementioned Sandsation Fun Ride tickets.

Gelatissimo at the Beach Station will also introduce a special combo deal for its “sandsational flavour of the month” – the Pineapple Carnival Gelato, from 1-17 September.

To find out more information about Sandsational Fun at Sentosa 2017, please visit the event’s official web page.