A Week of Crazy Contests Continues on Ocean City Music Pier

Sculptors of all ages gathered on the Ocean City Music Pier on Tuesday morning to test their creative talents in a new medium: french fries.

The french-fry sculpting contest was part of the "July Jubilee," a week-long series of family-oriented contests that has become a twice-a-summer tradition in Ocean City.

The event started Monday with saltwater-taffy sculpting and continues tomorrow with cookie creations. All the contests take place on the Ocean City Music Pier (on the boardwalk at Moorlyn Terrace) starting at 11 a.m.

Entry in the contests is free and prizes are awarded. Age divisions include 5-and-under, 6-8, 9-12, teens and adults.

The remaining contest schedule is as follows:

• Wednesday: It’s “That’s the Way The Cookie Crumbles.” Transform a giant cookie into a work of art. There is also a Super Hero Impersonation Contest. Suzanne Muldowney will be honored during the contest for her longtime impersonation of Underdog that marks its 50^th anniversary this year.
• Thursday: Contestants sculpt paper clips, which have resulted in such past entries as the Brooklyn Bridge.
• Friday: Events wrap up with BEADAMANIA, a new event created by Ray Esterlund, that asks contestants to make artwork out of beads (beads supplied).

During Tuesday's event, Leslie Skibo, founder of the Community Art Projects, received the IMMY Award, given each year to the person who has used their imagination for positive purposes.

Skibo started a program nine years ago that turns public spaces in Ocean City — electrical boxes, blank walls and other "canvasses" — into artwork.

"Please use your imagination today and as you go out into the rest of the world," Skibo told a crowd of young artists.