INDIANOLA — During the summer months, the idea of sleeping in seems to be a big hit with the younger residents of the community. Saturday mornings, no matter how sunny and bright, seem to encourage teens to stay in bed.

During Indianola Days’ sand sculpting contest, however, that all changed.

Kids of all ages could be seen frolicking through the muggy beach air, digging in the sand, checking out the competition and collecting rocks, shells and seaweed for their entries.

Low tide was at approximately 9:45 a.m. Saturday, so many of the competitors arrived at the beach between 5-6 a.m., readying their shovels and materials to create sculptures of all kinds. And create they did.

“It’s wonderful,” said Indianola resident Kathleen White. “It’s great this year. It’s amazing to see the completely different ideas people have come up with.”

She added that it hardly seemed possible that so many different sculptures could be envisioned.

Among those ideas were Patrick from Sponge Bob Squarepants, a sea monster with its tail weaving through the posts of the Indianola Dock, the hippocampus from Greek mythology, a scaled down re-creation of Indianola complete with a dock and people hanging out on the beach, a shell encrusted sand castle atop an elephant’s head and a bowling alley.

“We’ve been here since about 5:30, 6 in the morning,” said Indianola resident Tara Curtis, a member of the hippocampus team. Though many sculptors arrived at the beach bright and early, some started late and had to cut a few corners in order to finish their work in time for judging.

“We haven’t been here very long,” said T.J. Brennan, who helped create the bowling alley. “Maybe only an hour. It’ll be interesting to see if we can finish.”

Judges made their rounds about 10:30 a.m., viewing the largely completed sand creations. As they made notes, the beach games got underway, and children lined up excitedly to await their turn for the kids run.

Chris Moore presided over the activities with his wife, Lorrie. Equipped with a megaphone and swim trunks, Moore directed the children during the races.

“On your marks, get set, go!” he yelled over and over, starting with the very young ages up through the teens, each group of kids had a chance to win a ribbon by being the fastest in their age bracket. Two ropes separated the start and finish lines and were moved farther and farther apart to accommodate the longer legs of each group.

“Chris and Lorrie did an awesome job with the kids,” said Indianola Days chairwoman Patti Chambers.

Up by the Indianola General Store, vendors marketed their wares, selling food and trinkets to festival-goers.

The salmon bake, including the popular kids corn husking competition and the festival of music, was very well attended this year, organizers agreed.

“It went great. We sold 800 dinners,” said event co-chair Brent Souter, noting that marked a huge increase from the 600 or so dinners served at last year’s Indianola Salmon Bake.

“It was incredible, we had a tremendous turnout, tremendous community support, tremendous financial help,” said event co-chair Donna Souter. “I’ll say this, it takes a village.”

She added that this year’s salmon dinner broke all of the records from the previous festivals. The funds, Donna Souter said, were greatly needed for the dilapidated Indianola Clubhouse, and the community really came through for the cause. Chambers added that about 3,500 people showed up at some point or another during the weekend.

Other events at Indianola Days included Stunt Night, a dance for adults, a unique car show and the ever popular pet parade.

“The pet parade is always my favorite,” Chambers said, adding that among the dressed up animals was a bulldog that had been given fins and was attached to the end of a fishing rod by his owners. “It was like they were catching a shark.”

“The pet parade is the very best thing about living in Indianola,” Donna Souter said. “We’re so blessed to live in such a great community. Indianola Days was amazing, even though it was hotter than blazes.”