'Therapeutic' sand sculptures bring joy to North Port neighborhood

NORTH PORT, Fla. - Mitch Guerrero's sand sculptures outside his home on South Salford Blvd. in North Port are getting positive attention from children and adults alike.

"I was thinking what would be cool for rabbits and snails and nature to have kind of mushroom houses to have. That’s why I enjoy sand so much is because I can kind of make some of the visions in my head in the real world," Guerrero said.

Art runs through Mitch’s veins.

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"My grandfather is an artist. He passed down his art knowledge to my mom," he said.

Mitch found his talent during a day with his son at Manasota Beach. He caught the attention of a beach visitor while making a pyramid.

"He’s like ‘that’s really good. There’s all kinds of contests down here in Florida.’ I was like really? He said it’s a big thing down here," Guerrero recalled.

Months later, Mitch entered his first contest on Siesta Key. Since then, he’s traveled to the Blue Waters Sand Fest in Michigan, Maine’s Clam Fest and the Texas Sand Fest. He has won seven ProAm divisions in the last four years for sand sculpting.

"I’m always like constantly sketching and trying to figure out what can I do," he said.

The sand house came at a time when people needed uplifting. Four years ago, during the Covid pandemic, Mitch was left without his medium to work with. Instead of putting the sand in the backyard, he put it in an area where everyone could see.

"It’s crazy, people drive and they just stop. They honk, wave, they pull in the driveway and come out and look," said Mitch’s wife, Tara Guerrero.

Snapping a photo is a tradition for neighbor Shannon Lepine and her son.

"It’s just something to look forward to and it gives you something to talk to everybody that you know like hey ‘did you see his new castle?’ so it’s pretty cool," she said.

"I just love that it makes people happy," said Tara Guerrero. "I think we need more of that this day and age for sure. He started with something small and now he gets these crazy ideas and just goes for it and it’s really fun to watch."

Every month, a new sculpture is crafted.

"When it’s gone, you kind of do have some anticipation of what will come next," said neighbor Jason Bowings.

Guerrero's work started when he was laid off after 20 years of working in IT. Even after making sand sculpting a full-time career, Mitch didn’t realize how much attention his work gained city-wide.

"I wanted to make a little bit of an impact, and maybe brighten someone’s day at least one person," he said.

Posts and comments from Facebook pages, like North Port Friendly Neighbors, spotlight his work.

"It actually made me a little bit emotional because I had no idea that people really enjoyed what I was doing that much and so now it’s like ‘oh wow that’s great,’" he said.

Now, he works to teach others the art on Siesta Key with his business, The Forever Sand Castle. He’s even figured out how to make mini versions of sand castles to last forever through 3-D printing.

For more information on Mitch Guerrero and his sand sculpting lessons, click here.

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