The Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup on June 14th. Two days later, on a quiet stretch of Sunset Beach between the 14th and 15th Street access points, Stuart Jones and three of his neighbors spent the morning hauling ocean water by hand to say something about it in sand.
Within six days it was gone. That was never the point.
Who They Are
Stuart Jones is the Sunset Sand Artists’ unofficial leader: a retired civil engineer and long-time Hurricanes season ticket holder who grew up in Raleigh. He learned sand sculpting years ago from a vacationing couple from Maryland who had been doing elaborate beach art for decades. He practiced for a year on his own before the Sunset Sand Artists really took shape.
The group came together at the start of the pandemic, when Sunset Beach’s year-round residents found each other in the off-season and started gathering on Friday nights in each other’s driveways. Sand sculpting grew out of that.
When the Canes won the Stanley Cup for the first time since 2006, ending a 20-year wait, the subject matter wasn’t really a decision. Rod Brind’Amour, who captained the 2006 championship team, won it again as head coach. Jordan Staal, 37, became the oldest player ever to win the Conn Smythe Trophy. Rookie goalie Brandon Bussi shut out Vegas 3-0 in Game 6. The Canes went 16-3 in the playoffs. Governor Josh Stein declared Stanley Cup Summer.
For a Hurricanes season ticket holder from Raleigh, you build what you build.
The Build
The tribute went up near the 14th and 15th Street access points on Sunset Beach’s east end: the Canes logo, the word “CANES,” the number 26 for 2026, and a sand-carved Stanley Cup with a real Hurricanes flag planted on top. At the base, a small sign they handwrite on a shell and prop at the sculpture every time they build: “Please Enjoy and Don’t Destroy.”
Their sculptures start with what they call the volcano method. A mound of sand with a crater in the center, ocean water poured down through it to compact everything into something you can actually carve. Then they go to work with clay tools, palette knives, and Stuart’s signature instrument: a 50-cent kitchen knife with the tip cut off, used to carve the stairs. A sculpture like this typically takes the group around six hours and roughly 1,500 pounds of ocean water hauled by hand in five-gallon buckets. (Those are the group’s stated averages per a 2024 magazine profile; the exact figures for this build weren’t separately confirmed.)
The Deal They Make Every Time
The Sunset Sand Artists don’t take payment for custom requests. If you want them to build something specific, they’ll decline and suggest a donation to a local charity instead. The work is done entirely for the love of it.
They’re also clear-eyed about what happens to the things they make. The group refers to the people who kick or climb through their sculptures as “the destroyers.” Sometimes it happens within hours. Their record for a piece lasting untouched is about a month, but most don’t come close during summer tourist season.
The Canes sculpture was gone by June 22nd. So was a second sculpture they built, “Time for Arches,” which barely survived a single day. Someone took the shell sign again.
We are not hating on the visitors, just trying to educate. The first rule of the beach is “You can only destroy what you Create.”
They knew it wouldn’t last. They built it anyway.
Sunset Beach Has a Thing Going
Sunset Beach is the smallest of Brunswick County’s five barrier islands, about three miles long, tucked between Wilmington and Myrtle Beach. It also happens to be home to not one but two well-known sand maze builders: Hunter Gibbes, known as “Maze Man,” who has built more than 500 beach mazes since 2005, and Aaron Gutknecht, called “The Mazematician,” who has built hundreds more. Add the Sunset Sand Artists and you’ve got something genuinely unusual: a tiny beach town that keeps producing people who spend their free time building intricate, temporary art in the sand, for free, for strangers, knowing it will be gone. More on that soon.
Follow the Sunset Sand Artists
The group shares photos of their work on their Facebook page. If you’re heading to Sunset Beach this summer, check near the 14th and 15th Street access points on the east end. They build when the mood strikes and the conditions are right.
You might catch them mid-volcano.
Sources
- Carolina Hurricanes Win 2026 Stanley Cup Final — NHL.com
- 2026 Stanley Cup Final — Wikipedia
- Jordan Staal, 37, becomes oldest Conn Smythe winner — ESPN
- Governor Stein Proclaims Stanley Cup Summer — NC Governor’s Office
- “Sand Shapers” — Life in Brunswick County magazine (Aug. 2024)
- A-maze-ing artist uses Sunset Beach as his canvas — Spectrum News (Aug. 2024)
- Sunset Sand Artists — Facebook