Join Kingsway Mall for Lego building workshops and contribute to what will be one of the largest community-built Lego art displays in Canada. Participants receive Lego house-building kits that they build at the mall. The finished houses will be added to a winter village display curated by Lego artists and members of the Northern Alberta Lego User Group — and revealed on December 18.
“We wanted something that the entire community can be proud of, and so we decided to do it in little segments,” says Colin Ross, Build a Village organizer and Lego event specialist. “When we do the grand reveal, everyone can come back and see it, and everyone can see exactly how they contributed.”
Kingsway Mall offers the free drop-in sessions twice a week on Wednesdays from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon. Each family or group receives one kit of Lego to build a house.
“I love being able to bring families out, bring communities out and bring people to use the space to do something together that they may not have thought about doing on their own,” says Ross. “It’s really great, especially to have the parents, the adults or the guardians come with the kids. You start to see the adults as well as the kids get excited about it.”
The Build a Village grand reveal is on December 18 where people can view the completed project. The village is expected to range from two to six feet tall and created from approximately 150,000 LEGO pieces. It will have a footprint of up to nearly 150 sq. ft and will feature a ski hill with a mechanical ski lift, an electric train and an ice castle as the centrepiece.
“It’s going to be really fun to take a look at it and in person is going to be way better than seeing it online,” says Ross. “I really implore people to come in person.”
