Thousands of people over more than 30 years have taken up hammer and nails for this anual feast of creativity
Gateshead's interest in sculpture reaches back way before The Angel of the North spread its wing over Team Valley.
Antony Gormley's towering creation was erected at Eighton Banks in 1998, meaning next year will be its 20th anniversary.
But the annual Gateshead Family Sculpture Day pre-dates it.
The 32nd event will be taking place this year on Sunday Spetember 24 (11am to 4pm) at The Grove in Saltwell Park.
As many as 1,000 people regularly descend on the park for a day of creative construction using just rough timber and nails.
Renowned as a truly family-friendly event, it sees children, parents and gradnparents mucking in.
Inevitably there is a competitve edge to proceedings but a spirit of cooperation is also much in evidence.
This year's theme is Four Seasons which should offr plenty of scope.
Gateshead Council, which runs the event, offers some suggestions:
A squirrel shinning up one of the park trees in autumn;
A visit to the beach or an icecream in the summer;
A spring tree in blossom (the tree should be a doddle but... blossom?);
A winter snowman (in wood? Mm...);
Or maybe just be really clever and create a Four Seasons pizza or something to illustrate Vivaldi's famous classical music creation.
Or maybe ignore all those helpful ideas and come up with something turly original and unique.
Coun Angela Douglas, who holds the culture brief on Gateshead Council, said: "This is a fantastic event that gets the whole family involved and has great community spirit.
"There are artists and professional sculptors on hand to gt everyone started and help, so all people have to do is get creative and think of something to build."
Entry to the event is free but donations will be welcome and there will be a small charge for tool hire and nails. Participants will have to take their own hammers.
If you are planning to take part in this great annual sculpture-fest, you might be interested to now that you are part of a long tradition.
Gateshead Council's interest in what it has called 'art in the environment' began in the early 1980s and by 1986 a public art programme had been established.
More than 80 works of art were commissioned over a period of more than 25 years earning international recognition for the borough.
The Angel of the North did not fly down unannounced - it was the latest (though also clearly the most dramatic) addition to a growing portfolio.
Most of the earlier sculptures had been located in Gateshead's Riverside Park which had been landscaped in the 1960s and 70s.
There was Colin Rose's Rolling Moon, originally comissioned for Gateshead's site at the Glasgow Garden Festival in 1988, and relocated to a site beside the Tyne in 1990.
The great steel arc, 11 metres at its highest point, mimics the curve of the Tyne Bridge while also referencing the moon's effect on the tides and therefore the North East's maritime history.
Then there's Ricahrd Cole's Windy Nook, a series of stone walls and turfed earthworks which some mistake for an ancient hill fort.
In fact the work, covering 5,500 square metres, incorporates 2,500 tones of granite recycled from pillars supportng the old Scotswood Bridge.
Mike Winstone's Sports Day, a sturdy figure with a mohawk hairstyle, alludes to Gateshead's sporting achievements and to the post-punk fashions of the day.
Mike was Gateshead's artist-in-residence from 1985-6 duringf the early years of the Great North Run.
His piece, always controversial, was originally multi-coloured but was then painted black. Look closely and you'll see that his figure is doing the sack race.
Sally Matthews made a very popular herd of goats for the 1990 Gateshead Garden Festival and two years later seven of them, made of welded metal, were installed below the Queen Elizabeth II bridge.
Then there's Neil Talbot's Victorian Baker's Shop at the junction of Carlisle Street and Sunderland Road.
Completed in 1986 it resembls the old shop which once operated from the site. It incorporates more than 250 ceramic tiles.
There are many more - and on September 24, even if just for a day, thir number will be swollen still further.