The summer of 2016 came to a close, but ended with a wave. From August 5th-25th, The Beach Tampa was held at Amalie Arena. It consisted of an indoor white ball pit where anyone from ages 1 to 91 could enjoy throwing themselves into the pit, only to be consumed by the balls.

     Attendees were escorted to the entrance, where they were offered free vanilla ice cream. They went through strict security where the vendor was very adamant about one having a ticket in order to enter the event. Bags were checked before proceeding through a series of hallways to reach the entrance for The Beach.

     From pictures on social media, The Beach looks immense; a 15,000-square-foot all white enclosure in the middle of the arena. The space held 1.2 million balls sitting in a 36 inch deep pit. The walls were lined with mirrors that created an infinite expanse, with a maximum capacity of 499.

     As people walked around the 75-foot board walk, they were watched each other throw themselves into the pit or just sat with their children in the shallower area. For patrons who were afraid of germs, one of the lifeguards on duty named Barbara was certain that the balls were all clean. The balls were made with GermBLOCK, a self-cleaning agent that continued to discharge the substance until the ball could no longer produce the substance. The balls start off with a foggy haze of GermBLOCK, and it will start to lose that haze over time. Once a ball was clear, lifeguards removed it.

     The Beach is a traveling event by Snarkitecture funded by the Vinik Family Foundation and is heading to Australia. The cleanup is done by hand, shoveling millions of balls into boxes for shipment.

     The Beach was an exciting experience that was something completely different, but most certainly Tampa Bay. It was accessible for those of all ages and offered free admission and free ice cream.