Attracting families from all over the CSRA, the Columbia County Public Library is hosting the second annual Brick Con to showcase dozens of extensive LEGOⓇ creations.
On Saturday, Sept. 30, hundreds of visitors attended the convention’s opening day and enjoyed viewing sets of original brick constructions,
LEGOⓇ movies and shopping for new brick collections.
Continuing on Sunday, from noon to 5 p.m., expert builders from SC Brick LUG organization are showcasing their favorite displays, while small children are invited to enjoy Duplo and LEGOⓇ building stations deeper within the library.
Featuring food trucks out front and an indoor pop-up shop, the event is also collecting canned food donations for Columbia County Cares, a food pantry which focuses on serving the needs of locals. Each donation results in a raffle ticket entry for an ongoing 14-item, LEGOⓇ giveaway, which will announce the winners at the conclusion of Sunday’s all-day affair.
According to library manager Mary Lin Maner, the first brick con resulted in over 5,000 attendees and brought many new visitors to the area.
“It’s been really successful,” she said. “I think children learn that there’s a lot more creative things to do, and a lot of kids already have LEGOs. So, to me, it just opens up their imagination.”
Expanded dramatically from last year’s gathering, toy exhibits are scattered throughout the library to encourage reading and creativity exploration.
Tying in some learning opportunities, the brick playrooms also promoted on-theme alphabet associations, while other areas featured LEGOⓇ trivia.
For Julia Herring, a mother of three, LEGOⓇ creations are becoming a household family hobby, but she is also able to use them with patients at work.
“I’m an occupational therapist, so I know it works on their fine motor, planning skills, problem solving, sharing and visual perception skills,” she said. “The manuals are also very good because they don’t have words, which means they don’t have to be strong readers to be able to participate.”
To local brick-extraordinaire and “Studgineer” Mark Lorah, crafting large, time-consuming models teaches children how math and science are applied in the real world.
“I really hope that I can inspire children to exercise that creativity, because I’m a structural engineer by profession, and children who play with LEGOⓇ are doing things like geometry and trigonometry without knowing that they are,” said Lorah. “My goal is to develop those fundamental skills so they can utilize those in real life.”
Even more importantly, Lorah said children are fueling their own imagination outside of school.
“So much is focused on academic learning from kindergarten to even college that it’s really not until they get out into internships that they experience those things in an application setting,” he said. “But, for hiring, we really look at those that have that experience and that quizzical mind – like those who are building with LEGOⓇ.”
Fellow builder Mike Hebert said his featured recreation of the Taj Mahal took about 23-hours with over 5,000 individual pieces. As a grandfather, he knows firsthand how enthralled children can become with the small bricks, and it even creates opportunities for bonding.
“There are so many people here today that didn’t know [the event] was this big,” he said. “It shows children that they can build something, even if it’s just a little house. It’s imagination – it’s not TV, it’s not video games, it’s hands-on stuff.”
SC Brick LUG, Cameron Keel, said he participated in the event with his brother because they enjoy creating displays together and showing off their Star Wars models to other franchise fans.
“It’s got a lot to do with nostalgia. It really takes me back to being a kid,” he said. “I also build with family, so it’s another way to spend quality time with them … we usually have a set that we’ll build together during Christmastime.”
Keel said he also enjoyed interacting with visiting children and hearing them be inspired by the displays they see.
“I definitely think they’re all going home and trying to build their own versions of what they saw,” he said. “I’ll hear them say all day, ‘Mom, I can do that!’ and it’s just fun to sit and hear what every small child has to say, because everyone has something different to say.”
Lorah, who also loves conversing with children at LEGOⓇ events, said his creational “tweaks” are often inspired by ideas from small children.
“You never know what they’re going to say,” he said.
On Sunday, Oct. 1, the event will showcase three LEGOⓇ movies throughout the day to give families a chance to kick back and enjoy other forms of brick inspired mediums, along with the unusual displays. Movies shown will include “The LEGO Movie” at 12:30 p.m., followed by “The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part” at 2:45 p.m.
The Columbia County Public Library is located at 7022 Evans Town Center Boulevard in Evans, Ga.
For more information about the event or the SC Brick LUG organization, please visit: https://scbricks.com/
