Community Corner

After Weathering Storms, Ed Jarrett's Princess Comes Home

Tiny detail saved from world record-holding sandcastle.

The three knights posted to keep watch over the princess could not save her, themselves wasted from Hurricane Irene, yet still she waited, in her window on Jarrett’s Castle. So Jarrett himself decided to rescue her.

The princess, a tiny detail carved into the side of the record-breaking sandcastle at Winding Trails in Farmington was one of the few sculpted details on the world's tallest sandcastle, built early this summer, that withstood the onslaught of weather the town has endured — a tropical storm, an earthquake and a near-miss with a tornado.

"I came down after the hurricane and everything else was unrecognizable except for the princess hanging out her window. She's been through so much," Jarrett said.

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The princess, who is named after Jarrett's older daughter, Danielle, took six hours to carve — more than any other feature on the castle.

"When you carve something small, you don't want it to break. I thought she'd be the first to go," he said.

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She proved strong and when Ben Dunning of Dunning Sand & Gravel told Jarrett about a lacquer that would harden the sand and preserve it, the sculptor decided to go for it.

He climbed the castle Monday afternoon with Winding Trails Director Scott Brown and cut the princess out of the castle, bringing her down a precariously placed ladder on a silver platter.

"She'll be put under glass and will have a little plaque," he said.

Jarrett's next project can be seen at J.Timothy's Taverne in Plainville, where he has undertaken carving two 250-year-old Sycamore trees that fell in a 2010 storm. For more information see edjartunlimited.com.


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