Lego lovers, enthusiasts, builders, and more took over Moose Jaw’s Western Development Museum over the long weekend for the annual “Brickspo” exhibition. 

The annual event was put on hold over the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Brickspo coordinator Adam Dodge with the Saskatchewan Lego Users Group (SLUG) says it was great to be back at the WDM showing again.

“As we put our event together for our side of things being able to hang out with like-minded Lego nerds is always a good time, we get to do our games, talk shop, and talk about things that are happening,” says Dodge.

Over 50 builders from across four provinces showed off their iconic builds with everything from Star Wars, to Lord of the Rings, classic cars, model trains, and everything in between. Once people entered Brickspo the first section they say was their “pop culture” area, which held many large builds.

“Right in the dead center of it was a display showing a scene from Star Wars Rouge 1, the Battle of Scarif, this tropical scene with Star Wars vehicles flying around. It was a solid nine feet across, and 25 feet long. It ended up winning the fan favorite."

“There was a couple from Regina who made a Willy Wonka display with the chocolate factory and the moving chocolate river, that was kind of a neat one to see.”

Other sections housed smaller builds. One build Dodge explained was a couple of to-scale mushrooms that expressed great detail and technique to create a realistic display.

Another thing Dodge was happy to see was the interactive nature between the builders and the public.

“We’re happy if anyone shows up, being able to plan for a nice layout in the museum, being able to walk through the museum seeing things well-organized, and well shown. We’re happy when people come, we’re happy we get to talk to people about the things that we build,” adds Dodge.

He estimates roughly 2,700 people ventured into the WDM over the weekend to check out the exhibit, which was around the average usually seen for Brickspo pre-pandemic.

Dodge explained that other sections of Brickspo focused on recreating real-world items such as vehicles, which allowed for the exhibit to be enjoyed by all.

“Our different themes, we give out awards. The winning entry of the transportation award was this recreation of a truck from 1912. The lines on it were really accurate and it looked like it could be any form of the plastic model you have out there. I’m sure there was someone who connected through it.”

One thing Dodge has seen more and more is Lego is starting to target a wide age range to make it fun for more than just kids.

“The way they’ve started to put out sets, especially ones that have some sort of recreated scenes from pop culture, that’s a decent in. They’re really trying to encourage the dynamic of 'I know you used to play with this as a kid, but you’re older now and probably have a job so get this giant set'.”

Brickspo hopes to return to the WDM in 2023 for their 12th annual event, but looking into the future the event will take the show on the road to other exhibitions to display their builds to more and more people.

A full photo gallery of Brickspo 2022 can be found HERE.