There are Star Wars fans…and there are Star Wars fans. Lyndhurst’s Steven Savino falls into the second category. His elaborate displays of action figures from those fictional worlds won first-place in the 2010 Fourth of July Sand Castle Contest in Ocean Beach, New Jersey for the third year in a row.

This year’s “Villains Victory” scene included 150 miniature characters and involved two months of planning. Starting at 10:00 am, the display drew attention all day from fellow Star War aficionados, photographers and passersby. By mid-afternoon, Ocean Beach was so hot it couldn’t be navigated barefoot, but Savino’s waterside winner remained the day’s can’t-miss destination.

A recent graduate of South Bergen Jointure Commission Middle/High School, Savino is an artist and an aspiring video game designer with a project already in the works. He is active in the community, including feeding the homeless in Hackensack, speaking at the Dare to Dream conference at Montclair State University and participating in this year’s Bergen County Transition Fair.

But right now? He’s probably planning next year’s sand castle.