Scenes from LEGO KidsFest

LEGO KidsFest made its first stop in Milwaukee at the Frontier Airlines Center over Father’s Day weekend, complete with Master Builders Chris Steininger and his dad Dan Steininger. They greeted an excited throng of boys and girls at the 4 p.m. opening on Friday afternoon, and while Dan kept a rapturous audience (seriously, I’ve never seen 6-11 years old hang on every word) his progeny was helping attendees at various stations, like the Monchromatic Brick Build, across the indoor quad.

Nearby, a movie screen showed stop-motion animated films that re-created stories like Star Wars entirely out of LEGOs. Fathers and sons competed in a spinning constructed-warrior game called Ninjago, and next to that was a huge expanse with the outline of America. It goes on and on from there, with ornate displays showing Diagon Alley from Harry Potter’s world, races to make krabby patties and carry them across a finish line on a spatula, a downhill racing derby, and even a special section specifically for girls.

Have I mentioned the open hills made of loose LEGOs, which invited children to swim in the pieces and freely create whatever?  There was, of course, ample areas of storefront (reportedly larger than any store outlet in North America) and a forest of pop culture figures. LEGO has connections to various movie companies including Disney, Marvel, DC, Lucasfilms, and Nickelodeon, and as a result, full-sized versions of Batman, Captain Jack Sparrow, Lightning McQueen, and even Indiana Jones were there to take photos with.

You See more than 50 photos from LEGO KidsFest in the slideshow below, or take a look at TCD’s Flickr page.