According to the Myrtle Beach area Chamber of Commerce, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, during the 55th annual Sun Fun Festival, the attempt was made to break the current record for the world’s tallest sandcastle. A highlight of the festival, the World’s Tallest Sandcastle Attempt presented by Best Western of the Carolinas was built between May 31-June 7, 2006, on the ocean side of the Myrtle Beach Pavilion Amusement Park’s boardwalk.

When completed, the Myrtle Beach area’s sandcastle was 60 feet wide at its base. It used 130 dump truck loads of sand and stood at a towering 35 feet tall, which exceeded the current record of 29.25 feet held by Parkfest in Falmount, Maine, since 2003. The successful completion will be entered into the Guinness Book of World Records.

Sadly, vandals damaged part of a sandcastle at one point during its construction. It was repaired. Then vandals struck again. The picture on the far left, bottom row shows the damage to the top "tower" in the bottom photos.

World's Tallest Sandcastle - News Article from USA Today

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World's Tallest Sand Castle - Myrtle Beach, SC

In the summer of 2007, Myrtle Beach's title of World's Tallest Sand Castle was taken away by Virginia Beach. Not to be outdone by our neighbor' to the North, Myrtle Beach regained the title in June, 2007. The press release from sunfunfestival.com

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Despite wind and rain damage from Tropical Storm Barry, Myrtle Beach’s 2007 Sun Fun Festival can boast having created the World’s Tallest Sandcastle once again. The sandcastle, sponsored by Best Western of the Carolinas, was measured at a press conference today (June 4) and an independent surveyor from DDC Engineers Inc. confirmed the sandcastle is indeed taller than its record-holding predecessor.

"Towering at an astonishing 49.55 feet tall when officially surveyed on May 31, the Sun Fun Festival sandcastle surpassed the Neptune Festival’s record of 37.9 feet (Virginia Beach, Va.) by an astounding 11.65 feet. Following Tropical Storm Barry, the sandcastle was measured on the morning of June 4 at 43.12 feet by DDC Engineers Inc., showing that the tropical storm knocked 6.43 feet off of the top."

I took the pictures of the new sand castle below on June 4, 2007. Click each to enlarge.