Kids’ imaginations rule at library’s LEGO event

Nearly 100 children and adults squeezed into a community hall in Coeur d’Alene on Saturday for the second annual LEGO-rama in celebration of one of the world’s most enduring toys.

“They are just fun to build,” said Danielle Hubbard, 10, who went to the show with a horse corral and truck she built out of the tiny blocks and figures that are LEGOs.

Kevin Hill, 11, was proud of his assault ship that he said held a crew of 10 and had 16 thrusters for power.

Dirk Seymour, 11, brought a gunship with cockpit weapons, rear hatch, communications equipment and central turret.

The Coeur d’Alene Library sponsors the event as a way to draw boys and girls together and get them excited about learning to build things.

Dave Townsend, public relations and volunteer coordinator for the library and the official “LEGO leader,” said he wants the children to learn that the library is a good resource for information on how to build anything, not just LEGO toys.

“It’s a box full of imagination,” he said of the tiny interlocking blocks.

The response was so big at the first LEGO-rama last year that librarians arranged to use the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church Community Hall at Fifth and Wallace until a new 38,500-square-foot, $6.5 million library is completed in Coeur d’Alene.

The LEGO-rama is one of two big children’s events put on by the library in Coeur d’Alene. The other is a tea party themed to a series of American Girl books.

LEGOs date back to the 1930s when Ole Kirk Christiansen, a master carpenter and joiner, established his business in the village of Billund, Denmark. His firm manufactured stepladders, ironing boards, stools and wooden toys, but it’s the toys that are famous today, according to the LEGO Group’s Web site at LEGO.com.

Sales began in the U.S. and Canada in 1961.

The name for LEGOs comes from the Danish words “leg godt,” which translates into English as “play well.”

Did they ever on Saturday. The children were polite and respectful, and appeared to be making friends easily. They joined their voices to sing “It’s LEGO-rama day.”

Singing is a trademark of a Townsend-organized event.

“I’ve got a bucketful of LEGOs” at home, declared Joshua Jemison, 10, who brought his snow park and assault vehicle to the event. “You can build just about anything with them.”

Caleb Stedman, 9, was showing off his four-tower castle with two courtyards, two stories and furnishings.

“You can make a lot of stuff out of LEGOS,” he said.