Dear Editor,
Throughout spring break and the first week of April, if you listened closely, the sound of imagination, ingenuity, creativity and excitement filled the air. I speak of course about the LEGO contest that recently took place in Barrhead. With 123 entries received and over 1,300 votes, the stats alone illustrate how enthusiastic our youth were with the prospect of meeting real Lego master builders in Calgary. Even without the numbers however, if you stopped into Sandermans Home Hardware during this contest you could see for yourself the enthusiasm within the Town.
Originally the contest was meant to be a smaller event and just a product of the Barrhead Public Library. But thanks to the ever listening ear of Dave Sawatzky, who’s known to many as the president of the Chamber of Commerce and the man at the helm of Sandermans, it became much larger. Being the first to learn of the Lego Expo, Dave knew any child would love the opportunity to attend. We met to talk about his Lego desires and the contest plan I currently had. This eventually evolved into the event everyone got to witness all those weeks at Sandermans and the day of celebration, April 5 at the “Ready, Set, Go” contest hosted by the Barrhead Public Library.
Overwhelming success can barely describe the entire event in hindsight. I once again would like to extend a thank you to Sandermans Home Hardware. For facilitating the entries, enormous amount of traffic, taking in the ballot votes, supplying the grand prize and ensuring that at least half their employees got Lego’ed out for the time being.
Thank you to the Barrhead Public Library for its prize contributions as well hosting the “Ready, Set, Go” party that saw hundreds of people stuffed through its doors (remember to tell your elected officials how much you need their support for the Library). Thanks to Communities for Children and the Roxy Theatre for their prize contributions. And thank you to all who took part by submitting such unique designs. If you want to visit the Expo yourself, tickets are still available at LegoKidsFest.com.
Lego’s ability to inspire imaginations will again grace Barrhead in the future but for now we will have to rely on Master Builders; Ethan Paupst, Alex Detert and Ryley Jaggersma’s first hand experience at the Lego Expo in Calgary this May long weekend.
Kyle Hughes
Synaptic Games
