In between Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Open Studios and the rest of this weekend's madness, Ocean Beach will be invaded by gargantuan monsters (like the kind in Tremors?), whimsical castles and who knows what else rising out of its sands during Leap's annual fundraising sandcastle building contest. This year's theme is "Sand Francisco", so get your butt down to the seashore and watch the magic happen.

Saturday's competition, the largest in NorCal, pits teams comprised of architects, contractors, designers and elementary school kids against one another as a way of introducing more arts and architecture sensibility to the youngsters. The contest goes from 10 am-4 pm, by which each of the two dozen 400-square foot plots will grow into a vast, crazy topiary of sand.

They've got some judges this year who are heavyweights in the Bay Area arts scene, including Sirron Norris, Paul Madonna, and Susan Landauer, the former chief curator of the San Jose Museum of Art. Whose alien-monster sand being will reign supreme?

Photo via amazin walter on Flickr.com