This weekend, BrickFair New England hit Manchester, NH. From their site, they boast LEGO models, displays and trains over 30,000 square feet.
I arrived around 1pm and the exhibit hall was busy. The event appeared to attract mostly families and there were games and activities geared towards younger children. For $5, you could buy a bucket of ping pong balls and try to sink them into glass bowls filled with LEGOs to win the bricks. For $3 a card, you could play LEGO BINGO.
The main draw of the festival were the displays which included a 4 foot tall Mount Doom, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of la Grande Jatte, the Boston Harbor Hotel, Vikings with a motorized ship that encircled the display and more.
Among the exhibitors were the New England LEGO Users Group (NELUG). The group is a semi-private group that’s been in existence for about 15 years. According to Mike Ripley, volunteer and a member of the club’s Executive Committee, the club has 60-70 members total with about 20 active members. The group does around 6 exhibitions a year. One of the main benefits of the show is being able to stage a large display. The group starting setting up on Thursday and Mike stated it would take six people about two hours to fully breakdown the display.
Exhibitor Ginger Erkkila had one of the most whimsical displays of the festival, a cowboy herding cats. She was inspired by a commercial and wanted to recreate it with LEGOs. She’s been building with LEGOs since she was a kid and especially enjoys building houses. She’s been experimenting with custom molding as well.
For fans who want to see some of the creations made into kits by LEGO, you can vote for submitted ideas on ideas.lego.com. If an idea reaches 10,000 supporters, it is reviewed as a potential to become a kit.
