At the 2024 Crystal Classic, Joaquin Cortez and Craig Mutch took first place in doubles for a piece called "Be the Change." Edith van de Wetering and Wilfred Stijger, a Dutch pair, placed second with "Patience." Matthew Deibert and his son Ian took third with "AI?" When the festival returns to Siesta Beach on Nov. 13–16, 2026, five of those six names are on the roster again. This time each of them builds a sculpture alone, and they are competing against each other.
The festival has switched to an all-solo format. The Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce's 2026 event listing describes 20 artists, one community carve, and 20 solo sculptures. Team sculptures aren't mentioned. So the field is smaller and the walk through the sculptures is longer.
The math changed between 2025 and 2026
In its August 2025 preview, Siesta Sand described a field of 24 sculptors. They built one group carve together, then eight solo sculptures and eight team sculptures. That's 16 competition pieces from 24 people. This year, 20 people build 20 competition pieces.
| 2025 Crystal Classic | 2026 Crystal Classic | |
|---|---|---|
| Master sculptors | 24 | 20 |
| Solo sculptures | 8 | 20 |
| Team sculptures | 8 | None listed |
| Community carve | Yes | Yes |
| Total judged pieces | 16 | 20 |
Some of the festival's own pages haven't caught up. The general About page still says "24 World-Class Artists" and describes 24 sculptors arriving each year. The dedicated 2026 roster lists 20 names, and that count matches the Chamber's listing.
Three former partnerships, now on separate piles
The all-solo format matters most for the artists who have usually worked in pairs here. Going by the 2024 doubles results and the 2026 roster, the split looks like this:
- Joaquin Cortez and Craig Mutch, 2024 first place in doubles. Cortez is based in Stephenville, Texas, and came to sand sculpting from 3D computer animation. Mutch lives in Vancouver and worked as an illustrator and graphic designer before he started sculpting. Both are on the 2026 roster as individual entrants.
- Edith van de Wetering and Wilfred Stijger, 2024 second place in doubles and the doubles Sculptors Choice award, which the artists vote on themselves. Van de Wetering first worked with sand during her architecture studies, and Stijger started out sculpting on the beaches near his hometown of Katwijk. Both are listed separately for 2026.
- Matthew Deibert, half of the 2024 third-place father-and-son team. Matthew is on the 2026 roster. His son Ian is not.
Wade Lapp of Kelso, Washington, is on the 2026 roster too. His bio lists a third-place doubles finish at the Siesta Key Crystal Classic among his credits, so he's another doubles placer now working alone.
Andy Daily runs the sand side of the event through the Sarasota-based SandVenture Crew. After the 2024 festival, he described the field to Siesta Sand this way:
"A few artists hadn't been here before. We're like family. We all know each other."
This November, that family is split into 20 separate entries.
Who else is chasing the solo title
Without a doubles category, each solo sculpture competes for the same set of awards. The solo field already includes several artists with a strong record on this beach.
Maxim Gazendam is a Dutch sculptor who trained in architecture at TU Delft. He placed second in solo in both 2023 and 2024, according to Siesta Sand's 2024 results. He's back for 2026. Karen Fralich's roster bio lists 5 World Championship titles and 31 first-place titles from more than 170 Masters-level competitions. She was also a judge and lead consultant on all four seasons of the CBC series "Race Against The Tide." The Sarasota Herald-Tribune's 2025 festival gallery singled out the crown detail on her solo piece that year, "Snow Queen."
The festival's founder, Brian Wiggelsworth, is also on the list. His bio says he created the Crystal Classic and ran its sand program for its first 10 years before his business partner, Andy Daily, took over. He also created "Quick Sand," the mini speed-sculpting show that has run at past festivals.
The rest of the roster draws from Latvia, Hungary, Russia, Québec, Brooklyn, Cleveland, Galveston and Atlantic City. Bruce Peck is a former CPA who taught himself to sculpt after moving to Florida's Gulf Coast. Dean Arscott, the Ringling College graduate who won the 2024 solo title, isn't on the published 2026 roster.
When the head-to-head plays out
A professional judging panel scores the sculptures, and festivalgoers vote separately for People's Choice. The awards ceremony is Sunday at 3 p.m., but People's Choice voting stays open until Monday at 2:30 p.m. You vote by dropping a token at the sculpture you like best. This year's 20 solo pieces from 20 different hands give you more options than the 2025 mix of solo and team builds.
Here is how the four days break down, using the vendor hours from the official vendor page:
- Friday, Nov. 13: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Opening day.
- Saturday, Nov. 14: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Vendor Village stays open for the evening Light Up the Festival, and the ticketed area stays open until 9 p.m. so you can see the sculptures under colored lights. The amateur competition is also part of the festival.
- Sunday, Nov. 15: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Winners are announced at the 3 p.m. awards ceremony.
- Monday, Nov. 16: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. People's Choice voting closes at 2:30 p.m.
Vendor Village is sold out for 2026. A general admission ticket works on any of the four days but scans only once. If you want to see the sculptures half-built and then finished, you'll need more than one ticket or the four-day pass.
Getting there in mid-November
According to Siesta Sand, the Chamber expects more than 40,000 visitors over the four days. Here are the ticket and parking details from the Chamber's ticket page:
| Item | Full price | Online discount |
|---|---|---|
| Adult general admission | $20 | $2 off before Oct. 31, $1 off Nov. 1–16 |
| Senior or military | $18 | $2 off before Oct. 31, $1 off Nov. 1–16 |
| Ages 5–17 | $12 | $2 off before Oct. 31, $1 off Nov. 1–16 |
| Under 5 | Free | None |
| Four-day value pass | $60 | Other discounts don't apply |
| Reserved parking, per day | $55, advance purchase only | Early discounts don't apply |
As of today, Oct. 12, there are 19 days left to buy at the bigger early discount. Reserved parking is in the Siesta Beach main lot at 948 Beach Road. Each pass covers one festival day and can't be moved to another day. The free public parking at the same address is first come, first served, and the festival warns it fills fast.
For leaving the car at home, the free Route 77 Siesta Islander trolley runs daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Its route follows Ocean Boulevard to Beach Road and continues down Midnight Pass Road. That covers Saturday's lit-up viewing, which ends at 9 p.m., with an hour to spare.
The festival's transportation page also lists Sarasota County Bus Route 33. But Sarasota County's Breeze route page says Route 33's seasonal service resumes in December 2026, which is after the festival ends. The Chamber's transit page also describes Route 33 as a winter route running from December to around April. If you're planning to ride a bus from the mainland, confirm the schedule with Breeze before you go. Ticket prices, parking and transit times are live details that can change.
The Chamber has run the festival since 2010. The 2020 edition was canceled because of COVID-19, which is why November 2026 counts as the 16th year. Part of the proceeds goes to the Siesta Key Crystal Classic Scholarship Fund for Ringling College of Art & Design.
If you're catching the trolley to watch Cortez and Mutch build side by side this November, you might also be thinking about owning near that route. TJ Perkins can walk you through what owning within reach of Siesta Beach's busiest weekends actually looks like. Let's Connect.
