Brickfête

Brickfête
Status Active
Genre LEGO
Venue Various
Location(s) Toronto Area
Country Canada
Inaugurated 2011
Organized by Ontario Brick Builders
Website
www.brickfete.com

Brickfête is a Lego fan convention held annually in Toronto, Canada. It became the first Canadian Lego convention for adult fans of lego at its inaugural event in 2011.[1] It was created by volunteers[2] and organized by the Ontario Brick Builders (OBB).[3] The main focus of the convention is for Lego fans and hobbyists bring their creations to display and share with fellow enthusiasts. Brickfête's mandate is to offer any fan, regardless of skill level or size of collection, a place to display their creations and to promote their revered hobby to new potential fans. Like other fan conventions, it offers workshops, presentations, special events, contests and challenges.

Brickfête is a four-day event typically held on a Thursday through Sunday. Brickfête is held typically in July in Toronto. In its third year, Brickfête also created a travelling road show (Brickfête - On the Road), which takes a similar, yet smaller show throughout Canada. Its first destination was Montreal, Quebec.[4]

Brickfête is a two part event with a private convention for (primarily adult) exhibitors and then a public exhibition (general public) on the weekend. The event is not sponsored by the Lego Company however it is recognized as a fan event by them.[5]

Private convention

The main focus of the event is the private convention, which provides a venue for adult fans of LEGO to bring and display their own Lego creations. Activities at the convention include presentations, seminars, guest speakers, raffles, games, contests and awards. The Lego company will sometimes provides designers or representatives as guest speakers or to show sneak peek previews of upcoming sets.[6] The full attendee receives an event package including a schedule of events, give-aways from vendors, souvenirs of the event including an event brick, and other exclusive material.[7]

Public exhibition

The public exhibition is for Lego fans of all ages. For a nominal fee the general public can view of hobbyist-built creations, meet and ask questions of their creators, or expand their interest in building or collecting Lego. Guest can expect to see custom creations that include but are not limited to Lego Robots & Mindstorms creations, city layouts with powered trains, space, Star Wars & science fiction creations, art, architecture and design, planes, trains and automobiles, historical buildings and castles, pirates, steampunk and Vikings, and mosaics and sculptures. There is a build area for hands-on experimenting.[8]

Locations and dates

Dates Location Organizer Host Lug AFOL & VIP Attendees Theme Guest Speakers Notes
July 28–31, 2011 Assembly Hall, Toronto OBB rtlToronto 78 & 3 Old School Jim Foulds First Brickfête event
July 12–15, 2012 Hilton Hotel, Toronto OBB WHaCKoLUG 106 & 70 Heroes Kevin Hinkle Moved to a larger venue, Star Wars characters entertained
July 11–14, 2013 Hilton Hotel, Toronto OBB rtlToronto 122 & 78 Canadian Inventions & Inventors Kevin Hinkle, Pierre Normandin, Graeme Dymond Life-size Lego figure entertained, Duplo play area for children under 3 was added
Nov 21-24, 2013 Montreal OBB QueLUG 86 & 80 Construction Kevin Hinkle First "On the Road" show
July 17–20, 2014 Delta East, Toronto OBB WHaCKoLUG N/A Elements Jamie Berard, Kevin Hinkle Venue change for better location and free public parking
July 3–5, 2015 Delta East, Toronto OBB WHaCKoLUG N/A Fire unknown

Press Coverage

680 News[9] Etobicoke Guardian [10]

References

  1. ↑ Brothers Brick - Year One Announcement http://www.brothers-brick.com/2011/05/02/brickfete-ontario-july-28-31/
  2. ↑ Brickfête Volunteers/Staff http://toronto.brickfete.com/toafol/Volunteers
  3. ↑ Ontario Brick Builders http://www.ontariobrickbuilders.com/
  4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoEZyzch-9w
  5. ↑ http://ceeteamblog.com/2013/07/17/event-recap-brickfete-toronto-2013/
  6. ↑ http://www.bzpower.com/story.php?ID=6158/
  7. ↑ http://www.blogto.com/sports_play/2012/07/lego_wizards_strut_their_stuff_at_brickfete_2012/
  8. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9B7Oy3QtWg
  9. ↑ http://www.680news.com/2012/07/15/brickfete-lego-fan-convention-snaps-together-fans-in-toronto/
  10. ↑ http://www.insidetoronto.com/news-story/66352-lego-convention-coming-to-etobicoke/

External links

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