Brick Fest Live, a touring LEGO experience, came to Louisville for the first time this weekend, drawing up to 8,000 kids and adults to the Kentucky Exposition Center.
The fan-created event is a celebration of LEGOs and building-block toys designed to help people get creative and build a community of enthusiasts, said Devon Jack, a show manager for Brick Fest Live.
“We have attractions and different exhibits just to spark their creativity and kind of foster different ideas for building inside their head,” Jack said.
Some of the more hands-on activities included a 200,000-brick pit where children could literally dive in and begin creating. The most impressive creations were displayed on the side as inspiration for those who followed. The derby races were another popular activity, where participants could build their own LEGO cars and race them.
Attendees also took pictures in front of the intricate, life-size LEGO statues of the character Woody from Disney’s Toy Story and various historical figures that were scattered throughout the event.
Jack said one of his favorite creations from the Louisville convention was a giant LEGO Mario sculpture that an attendee built.
“Kids are creative. They get up to building all kinds of things,” Jack said. “The bar for what kids can do keeps getting raised honestly.”
Perry Clement said he decided to bring his 11-year-old son Evan to Brick Fest Live when he was in town for spring break, knowing Evan’s love of LEGOs. They’ve been to Legoland in both Orlando and Atlanta. Evan said he wants to be an architect one day, which he said LEGOs have helped him learn more about.
“I did build some World Trade Centers [at Brick Fest Live],” Evan said. “And we made robots and stuff like that. I really liked them.”
Brick Fest Live is not the last LEGO fan event making its way to Louisville this year. The Louisville Brick Convention will open at the Kentucky International Convention Center on July 15.
Support for this story was provided in part by theJewish Heritage Fund.
