OLD ORCHARD BEACH — It took architects working on two continents 10 years to build the Statue of Liberty, which nearly 130 years after its completion in New York Harbor still serves as a symbol of American idealism.

The Belanger girls – 8-year-old Charlotte and 13-year-old Gabby – and their crew of roughly a dozen family members and friends had about two hours to complete the job Friday – albeit on a smaller scale and with easier building materials. Their version of the iconic statue stood – well, lay – somewhere between 16 and 20 feet and was made from course beach sand rather than copper. Yet it still drew a small crowd as the “Liberty Kids” team worked to complete their creation before judging began in the annual Family Sand Sculpture Competition on the Ocean Park section of Old Orchard Beach.

Josh Wilson of Montreal, foreground, spreads confectioner’s sugar on a sculpture of the Statue of Liberty as Ben Mortley of Australia works on the crown during the sand sculpture competition Friday. Gabe Souza/Staff Photographer

“We thought about doing the flag, but then we thought everybody would do that, so then I thought of the Statue of Liberty,” said Gabby, who lives in Ocean Park.

The Belangers weren’t the only people who gravitated toward Lady Liberty when deciding what to design in keeping with the competition’s theme of “patriotism” this year. There were at least three other renditions of the statue of various sizes carved out of sand on Friday, along with quite a few flag motifs and eagles.

One was directly beside them and appeared even larger, with a more finely sculpted base but somewhat less attention paid to the face, crown and torch. Peter Charlton of Emmaus, Pennsylvania, said his family came up to Old Orchard Beach a day early this year in order to compete once again in the competition. They were joined by friends and relatives from Buckfield and Bridgton.

Now in its 29th year, the annual Fourth of July sand sculpture competition has become a popular event for a beach town buzzing with tourists for the holiday. Nearly two dozen teams competed this year.

Among the more unique were a large, sculpted mound with a tilted American flag and a toy soldier on top symbolizing the iconic picture of troops raising the stars and stripes over Iwo Jima during World War II. There was also a jumbo-sized Liberty Bell (complete with crack) lying in the sand, a rendition of the Boston Tea Party, a hot air balloon marked with the letters U.S.A. in red and blue, and a square containing 13 raised sand stars (decorated with sea shells) replicating the way the original Colonies were depicted on so-called “Betsy Ross” flag.

And then there was a gigantic greenish-gray shark with shells for menacing teeth. While not exactly patriotic – at least not in the same vein as the other sculptures – the giant sand shark commemorating the 40th anniversary of the movie “Jaws” was perhaps celebrating another American pastime.

For their patriotic sculpture, the team composed of more than a dozen Hendersons, Hollands and McElhinneys from Massachusetts had settled on a version of the bald eagle that appears with its wings spread on the Great Seal of the United States, most often seen on the reverse sides of U.S. currency and coins. Below the eagle the crew had designed an American flag of shells and was using seaweed to fill in giant “USA” and “1776” carved into the sand.

Johanna Henderson, 11, said they had debated attempting the White House as well as the Statue of Liberty but decided that the statue’s face would have been difficult to replicate in sand. For the families, the sand sculpture competition has become a Fourth of July tradition over the past several years – and they even have at least one first-place and one second-place finish to show for it.

“We come up every Fourth to watch the parade and do the bike parade, and we like doing this,” Johanna said.

In the end, the top prize went to the larger Statue of Liberty rendition. Second prize went to the eagle and flag sculpture.

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