Feature Article August 5, 2004
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Building Sandcastles at Desert Lake
The Vanderspank family from Holland and Canada first got together at Desert Lake Family Resort five years ago and as part of their family reunion at the time, they built an elaborate sandcastle at the resort beach. The Pedersen family, who run the resort as a family business, were so taken with the sandcastle that it has been featured on the cover of their promotional flyer since that time.
The Vanderspanks returned to the resort in late July for another reunion. Under the supervision of Jan Vanderspank, an artist and designer from Holland, they built an even more spectacular sandcastle this past Sunday.
Jan Vanderspank said the project took about 12 hours. We designed it as we went along, he added, using sand, water, some pails and shovels, knives forks and spoons, whatever we had on hand.
The only extra materials used for the castle were a single wooden BBQ skewer in each of the hat-like towers in the structure and some corn starch. Other than that, common beach sand was all that was used.
The entire family helped out, with some of the younger children showing as much concentration and meticulous attention to detail as the adults. The carved frogs on the sand rocks beside the buildings and all of the castle walls were made by younger members of the clan.
Twelve of the 18 Vanderspanks staying at the resort are visiting from Holland and the other six live in Canada. Their family has remained close over the years despite the distances they have to travel to get together.
There is a great bond between Holland and Canada as everyone knows, ever since World War 2, and we are always made welcome when we travel back to Holland, said Rosemary Vanderspank, Jans cousin from Iroquois, Ontario.
For the Pedersen family, who started Desert Lake Resort 31 years ago and now have two da
ughters and sons-in-law helping out with the business, family ties are well understood, and they enjoy having the Vanderspanks in residents as much as the Vanderspanks seem to enjoy Desert Lake.
The wet weather this weekend made Sunday the only good day for sand construction, and by the end of the day the castle was built. On Monday, Jan was still putting the finishing touches to the structure, using a table knife, fork, and spoon to smooth out some rough edges and maintaining the long ramp up to the castle, which is about 4 feet tall and 10 feet wide.
The heavy rains of Monday night and Tuesday afternoon caused some damage to the structure, but as of the last report the Castle is still standing. It is definitely worth taking a drive down the Desert Lake Road to see this spectacular, fleeting work of art.
