The Eckville and District Public Library was a buzzing hub of creativity last weekend. On April 22, local Lego creators and an assortment of guests and judges visited the Library for its sixth annual Lego Day.
An assortment of projects, ranging from small vehicles to entire cross sections of scenes and dioramas, crafted out of Lego bricks filled the library. Along with admiring spectators, a number of judges were appointed to evaluate the projects on display.
“It’s an all-ages event, but this is our first year with adult entrants. There are two adults participating this year, so that makes it a step up in popularity,” said Library Manager Carol Griner.
There was a distinctly Canadian theme to many of the entries on display on Saturday, because this year’s Lego Day theme was Canada’s 150th anniversary.
“That includes structures or buildings, or inventions or animals - anything Canadian,” said Griner.
The assorted Lego projects on display were all made in advance of the weekend, with some taking days and some taking weeks to plan and build. The builders were allowed to use pieces from Lego kits, but were not allowed to follow a guide or use an entire kit to construct their projects.
“It’s been a good day for me. I built an oil plant, a flame stack and a control room that talks with a helicopter, which I built too,” said Griffen Thomas, describing his project. “It took about three weeks for me to build it, and I like getting a lot of the feedback I’ve gotten today.”
Although the Library was close to packed on Saturday morning with around 42 people attending, Griner noted that attendance was actually a little lower than usual. This may have been due to a date change for this years event, she suggested, which likely resulted in schedule conflicts for some prospective guests and participants.
Griner said she was proud of the support and participation of the community in this year’s Lego Day, adding, “There are a lot of different people with different skill levels here. With a lot of them, once they have been here one year, they start planning, right away, to make their projects bigger and better for next year.”
“People get into it, and come back. I know a couple of people have been here all six years we’ve done this.”