South Catlins Charitable Trust chairman Thomas Buckingham said the 21st annual sand sculpture competition and Big Dig at Curio Bay was held under "pleasant conditions" in between periods of rain on Saturday.
About 300 people turned up for the event about 80km southeast of Invercargill, Mr Buckingham said.
Before the Big Dig, about a dozen teams took part in the sand sculpture competition creating a dragon, a whale, a surfer on a wave, "and a fella eating a sandwich", among other things.
Mr Buckingham said businesses from Invercargill and Gore donated 207 prizes.
Accordingly, organisers buried 207 sheep ear tags in a 60m by 30m plot, which was raked before the start of the event.
Two minutes after digging began, the lineup to claim prizes already stretched about 50m, Mr Buckingham said.
It was "amazing" how fast some entrants found the ear tags.
"We have it ... raked over and looking nice and smooth. Within a minute of them being in there, it’s all just a mountain of sand."
Under-5s were given their own place to dig to keep them out of the way of errant elbows and knees and "sand going in all directions" in the main digging area.
Normally, the Big Dig, the trust’s annual fundraiser, was held between Christmas and New Year, but it was always dependent on the tide.
The plan was to match it with an early afternoon low tide and this year it happened to be on Saturday.
— APL
