SEATTLE – Crews will be delivering truckloads of sand today and tomorrow in preparation for Seattle Sandfest, Seattle’s urban beach festival, scheduled for this Saturday, August 25. Approximately 80 cubic yards of sand will blanket Westlake Park (equivalent to 16,000 gallon-size jugs of milk) for this one day spectacle. A larger-than-life professional sand sculpture, by Seattle-based team The Orbital Sanders, will then take shape as the team playfully pays homage to Seattle’s caffeinated roots. Official activities for Seattle Sandfest, benefiting The Moyer Foundation, will include an amateur sand sculpting competition – where attendees get to choose a winner; kids activities; live music; and special retail deals and in-store activities from Nordstrom, Pacific Place, Westlake Center and many other Downtown businesses.

PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES: Thursday, August 23, 2007

7:30am – 5pm The Orbital Sanders professional sand sculpting team builds the flagship “Polar Espresso” – a giant sculpture depicting an igloo espresso stand with many arctic characters in Westlake Park. The 50’ x 25’ sculpture will feature polar “bearistas”, a musher and dogsled stopping for a coffee break and hilarious penguins with coffee cups.

Friday, August 24, 2007

10am - 5pm Amateur sand sculpting competition featuring ten corporate and volunteer teams (10 members each). Corporate teams include Macy’s, Coughlin Porter Lundeen, Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects LLC, Starbucks Coffee Company, Kleinfelder, Inc., and Qwest. Sculptures will depict a variety of interwoven themes tied into the central motif “Sand for All Seasons! 5 - 6:30pm Sonando, a high energy Latin jazz group, perform LIVE on stage at Westlake Plaza

Seattle Sandfest benefiting The Moyer Foundation Saturday, August 25, 2006 11am – 5pm FREE Westlake Park & Westlake Plaza, 4th & Pine Downtown Seattle www.downtownsummer.com

Road Closures: During Seattle Sandfest, Pine Street will be closed between 4th to 5th from 6am-8pm on Saturday, August 25 for event festivities. All surrounding parking garages will be open and accessible.

Seattle Sandfest benefiting The Moyer Foundation is a Downtown Seattle neighborhood program organized by the Metropolitan Improvement District (MID) Retail Core Marketing Committee. The MID provides safety, hospitality, cleaning, marketing, and research services designed to enhance the Seattle metropolitan environment. The MID, created and managed by the Downtown Seattle Association, is a special initiative financed by a self-imposed assessment on properties. For more information visit www.downtownseattle.com.

Event Sponsors and Supporters:

The Moyer Foundation, 5th Avenue Theatre, Ameriprise Financial, Century Square, City Centre, Coughlin Porter Lundeen, FRS Antioxidant Health Drink, KING 5 Television, Kleinfelder, Inc., Leaf Guard, Macy's, Metropolitan Improvement District, Nordstrom, Pike Place Market, Qwest, Starbucks Coffee Company, Washington Graphics, Westlake Center, Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects LLC

About The Moyer Foundation:
The Moyer Foundation was founded by Major League All-Star pitcher, Jamie Moyer and his wife, Karen. The Foundation’s mission is to provide comfort and support to children enduring a time of profound distress. Through the generosity of a giving community, The Moyer Foundation supports many local non-profit organizations that share in this mission of helping children in severe physical, emotional or financial distress. Team up with The Moyer Foundation at Seattle Sandfest this year and help make a difference for kids in our community. For more information, visit www.moyerfoundation.org or call 206-298-1217.

About The Orbital Sanders:
The Orbital Sanders is a sand sculpture team based in Seattle, Washington. They have been active on the sand sculpting circuit since 1985. No other team has been together as long as the Orbital Sanders.

Orbital Sanders are known for very original, creative and humorous designs that suggest a story is being told before your very eyes. The names of their sculptures make use of "bad puns" and "twists-on-words." The goal is to delight and entertain the viewer, and have fun with the sand.

The Orbital Sanders team is made up of a group of architects, landscape architects, planners, engineers, and artists. Team members carving at 2007 Seattle Sandfest include Vern Cooley (team Captain), Stan Allison, Jeff Benesi, Jerry Ernst, and Ed Mah. They will be joined by a guest carver, Jeff Strong.

Orbital Sander STATS:

The Orbital Sanders have done sand sculptures for two television commercials, and have participated in two world record attempts.

Their attempt in 1995 to build the tallest hand built sand sculpture within 100 hours collapsed before being completed (it was 23 feet tall).

At the 1994 Sandsations weekend at Long Beach, Washington, they built the centerpiece and helped the town reclaim the world record for longest sand sculpture at 22.87 miles. (The centerpiece was 86 feet long).

The Orbital Sanders have also done exhibition sand sculptures in Seattle, Medina, Anacortes, Burlington, Wenatchee, Auburn, Olympia (Washington), Portland, Seaside (Oregon), Santa Cruz (California), Boise (Idaho), Vancouver (British Columbia), and Mazatlan (Mexico).

About the Downtown Seattle Association:
The Downtown Seattle Association (DSA) is a membership organization that champions a healthy, vibrant urban core. DSA manages the Metropolitan Improvement District which implements maintenance, safety, marketing and research programs for 225 square blocks of Downtown Seattle. DSA also manages the Urban Mobility Group, a resource for Downtown businesses to develop commute packages and transportation benefits for employees. For more on the Urban Mobility Group, log on to www.urbanmobilitygroup.com. For more information about DSA and the Metropolitan Improvement District, visit www.downtownseattle.com.

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