PORTLAND, Ore. -- The event Sand in the City had Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square looking more like the Oregon Coast on Friday.

More than 450 tons of sand were brought in from the Cowlitz River for the event Sand in the City.

The competing teams started with huge squares of sand and whittled them down to the sculptures that were judged in the contest.

The teams had about six hours to create their sand creations, working from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., and they were allowed to use one prop for each sculpture.

One of the sand sculptors named Anne Bell explained the sculpture that her team chose to create.

"We tried to pick a theme, which is a play on words. So we picked elephants and called it 'Packing the Trunk' where the small elephant's trunk is stuck in the luggage trunk, and the big elephant is trying to close it, and he doesn't know why it won't shut," sand sculptor Anne Bell said.

Hundreds of people were attending the event on Friday, but thousands were expected to come through over the course of the weekend since the sculptures won't immediately be taken down.

Bell explained that the trick to making good sand sculptures is to make sure the sand is very well packed so that it can be "carved."

A kids' sand box was available for children to learn some of the tricks to sand sculpting.

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