Lego Build winners announced

Mark DeLap
Posted 4/26/23

Legos Build a success

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Lego Build winners announced

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WHEATLAND – The inaugural Lego Build sponsored by the Wheatland Kiwanis Club and the Wanderer on Gilchrist is in the books and for a first attempt of anything of this sort, it was a huge success.

Legos. They are painful if you step on them, but can be used to build creative projects for young contractors who have embraced these plastic construction toys. As it turned out this year, builders came in all shapes and sizes and ages. From three-years-old to 37 years old.

According to the History of Lego on Wikipedia, “The history of Lego began in 1932, when Ole Kirk Christiansen founded the company in a Danish carpentry workshop, and continues into the 21st century as a popular and very profitable line of construction toys and related products and services.”

Originally made of wood, the toys changed to plastic in the 1960s. The toys have had a rollercoaster ride from their inception and although the popularity declined in the early 2000s, there has been a recovery since 2005 when those advocates and builders began thinking outside the box and have created ingenious builds.

Although this year’s builds could be done off-site, the finished projects had to be into the bookstore by March 31. Then the voting began. Both in the Wanderer on Gilchrist toy annex and online.

“The kids have had all month to build,” Josephine Young, one of the organizers of the event said. “We have 51 total entries including one entry from Casper. This is our Kiwanis fundraiser for scholarships for kids.”

At 10 a.m. last Saturday morning a large crowd of parents and builders gathered in the Wanderer’s toy store as Young announced the winners.

Judges choice winners: For the five and under group, first-place: Sophie Allen second place: Adeline West. For the six to eight-year-old group, - first place: Lilyn Warren second place: Camden Taylor. For the nine to 12-year-olds, first place: Johnny Philp and second place: Katie Weaver. In the 13-16-year-olds first place went to Bernie Douglas and second place was Ben Watson. For the 17 and up group, - first-place went to Eden West, second place to Darin Fitzpatrick.

People’s choice winners: five and Under: Claire Young. Six to eight-year-olds, Ella Costellanos. For the nine through12-year-old group: Johnny Philp 13-16. Bernie Douglas who was also overall winner was the 17 and up winner.

Kiwanis members who were present for the event were Eden West Kiwanians Present, Gail Thompson Gwen Seidel, Slick Siedel, Linda Fabian, Josephine Young, Sarah Lockman, Rick Robbins, Arlene Robbins and Jim Lockwood

“This idea was born from just a pure love of Legos,” Young said. “And then, in turn, hoping that the kids would respond positively to utilizing them in a competition setting. It was so incredibly fun, the creativity of everyone who entered completely blew me away. So many small details in every piece! Additionally, we were blessed to build and foster a beautiful partnership with The Wanderer. I really hope we created something that can come back and be successful annually moving forward.”

The entry fee was $25 for a single child, multiple children from the same household was $20 per entry. For the entry fee they got a free Lego base which usually costs $15 and is used as the foundation to build their projects.

“We had five scholarships donated to kids who couldn’t afford the entry fee,” Gail Thompson, another organizer said.

The entrants used their own Legos, but according to Young, if they signed up and bought the Legos from the bookstore, it was half off their registration. There was no theme or boundaries as to what the project was supposed to be.

“They could do whatever they wanted,” Young said. “As long as it stayed on the board and there was no kit used. Each project had to be from their own imagination.”

There are two different ways that the projects were voted on. The first was a panel of judges who voted for a first and second place in each age category. The first-place winners got a gift certificate from the bookstore for $50 and second place was awarded a $30 gift certificate with which they could purchase merchandise from the store.

People who voted online are part of the “People’s Choice” vote and it cost $1 per vote. This is also one of the ways that the contest was raising money.

Proceeds to benefit the Platte County communities via the Kiwanis Club of Wheatland Foundation and things such as scholarships, socks and shoes, DFS bags, read around the world, discovery day, snacks for kids and bus shelters.