As the year comes to a close, we at VLC are thrilled to reflect on the successes we have had over the past year and to look forward to what the future holds.
One of the highlights for our club this year has been the return to in-person events. After a two years of online meetings and virtual events, we were finally able to safely gather together again and participate in the meetings, activities, and events that bring us together as a club. It was a joy to be able to connect with our members in person once again and to see the enthusiasm and excitement they brought to our events.
VLC at Fan Expo 2022
In addition to returning to in-person events, we have also been working bringing back activities for our members during the monthly meetings. This has been a year of rebuilding for the club both in terms of getting active with our community and with each other. In this past year we have attended many new events, which have created foundations for future shows, and have started work on some of our biggest shows yet.
VLC at the Sea to Sky Train & Hobby Show 2022
Finally, we are pleased to announce that our club roster has been growing steadily over the past year. We have welcomed many new members into our community, and we are excited to see how they will contribute to the club in the coming year.
As we look ahead to the future, we are filled with hope and excitement for all that is to come. We look forward to seeing you at Fan Expo 2023, Brickcan, and other events throughout the year.
If you’re interested in joining the VLC, please checkout or membership page for more details.
For the past many years, VLC member, Andrew Delbaere has been leading the drive to promote LEGO and monetary donations for the Surrey Christmas Bureau. If you can, please consider helping out with a financial donation or by dropping off a LEGO set. And please follow Andrew on Instagram @FraserValleyBricks and other social media.
Well, it’s that time of year again!
With the holiday season around the corner, I will once again be collecting LEGO and donations for the Surrey Christmas Bureau. And I ask for and appreciate your support in achieving this.
If you know me, you know how much I’ve always loved LEGO and the joy/creativity it can provide.
LEGO isn’t cheap, and it’s financially out of reach for many families. By donating new LEGO sets to the Surrey Christmas Bureau, we’re able to get this great toy in the hands of some who wouldn’t have had that opportunity.
If you’re not able to bring new LEGO sets in to be donated, then I highly encourage you to donate to the Surrey Christmas Bureau, as they help brighten the holiday season for so many families in Surrey. You can do so at the link below.
Last year we collected $3737 worth of new lego and $360 in donations for the Surrey Christmas Bureau, and we were able to create a 5ft tall mountain of LEGO that was donated to families in need!
Thank you for your support,
– Andrew aka FraserValleyBricks
The Surrey Christmas Bureau is the largest Christmas charity in British Columbia, providing toys and holiday meals to low income families for over 40 years.
If you couldn’t make it out to last month’s Sea to Sky Train & Hobby Show up in Squamish at the Railway Museum of BC to see our fantastic train layout, then please have a look at the following video.
This past weekend the VLC was the Railway Museum of BC where we had the largest town and train layout that the VLC has ever made. This included multiple train stations, rail yard, downtown city, some rural farms and much more.
This show had multiple trains running on the two sets of track, streetcars, including replicas of a GMD 6F6C Electric Locomotive hauling coal trains, and Locomotion No.1.
The layout even managed to include two pop culture icons hailing from BC. One brand new icon and the other an icon of the BC film industry.
Come visit the VLC this weekend, Saturday Sept 10th, 2022 for Recovery Day BC. This is the 10th anniversary of the event is Canada’s largest mental health and addiction recovery event.
For more information about Recovery Day please visit their website.
This past weekend the VLC attended the Family Farm Day at London Heritage Farm. Participants were encouraged to visit the VLC bee building station to add a bee to a beehive!
This all day event also saw people connect with wildlife, enjoy live music and much much more!
Paul Hetherington is an award winning LEGO artist. His building style is known around the world for it’s fun storytelling, building techniques and masterful use of colors. Paul’s work has been featured in books, magazines, online blogs and news stories. He was recently featured in The LEGO House Masterpiece Gallery in Billund Denmark. Paul also has a large gallery of his creations that travel to Brick Universe LEGO fan events. Paul is available for commissions and continues to create original pieces for his travelling show.
BrickUniverse
BrickUniverse is a LEGO Fan Event that travels to various US cities throughout the year. They invited me to have a gallery of my creations at their shows starting in 2017. At most shows I have at least 20 large creations on display. To date I have attended over 30 shows in 20 different US cities.
At each BrickUniverse show I fly in a day early to set up all the models in my gallery. This usually takes about 8 hours. The owners of BrickUniverse store and transport my creations in large wooden crates. Many of my creations have lighting effects and automation which take additional time to set up. Seeing the enjoyment the families get from seeing the models makes all the work worthwhile. During public hours I am onsite to answer questions about my creations. Talking to the public about my passion for LEGO is my favorite part of attending BrickUniverse.
BrickUniverse features 6 LEGO artist’s galleries as well as a fan zone that gives local LUGs space to display their creations. The artists include; Jonathan Lopes, Rocco Buttliere, Lia Chan, Martin Harris, Ej. and Abby Bocan, and myself. In addition to the displays, BrickUniverse has had 4 building zone areas, a challenge zone, a Duplo zone for younger builders as well as a great selection of vendors selling all types of LEGO related items. BrickUniverse provides a fun family event that inspires builders young and old to build their dreams.
Buffalo Phil’s Pizza & Grille
Buffalo Phil’s Pizza & Grille approached me in 2018 about building some large LEGO displays for their restaurant. They offer train delivered food and they wanted to fill in the spaces between the train track with engaging LEGO displays. The owners want their restaurant to be a destination. The one place that kids of all ages have to visit when in the Wisconsin Dells.
In 2019 I created a large BrickCity that took over 6 months to design and build. I enjoyed designing a large food themed city that was inspired by downtown Disney. The models were created in my studio and then shipped down to Wisconsin in sections in large wooden crates. The displays were then reassembled and lighting and automation were added. The automation can be triggered by putting coins into a coin mechanism. This ensures the LEGO train motors don’t get worn out too quickly by running non stop.
In 2022 Buffalo Phil’s requested an addition to the BrickCity focusing on space themed creations for their main dining room. I created 9 large scenes over a 6 month period which are now on display. These displays feature even more automation including custom lighting, motorized features, smoke and even a real laser battle! In addition to the 9 custom scenes there are many official LEGO sets on display as well. If you visit Wisconsin Dells these LEGO displays are a must see and are free to view when you visit Buffalo Phil’s Pizza & Grille.
This past weekend the VLC was privileged to attend the Golden Spike Days Festival over the Canada Day long weekend. There we were able to show off some train builds, engage people in building a mosaic, and create some Hall of Fame worthy builds.
Are you interested in seeing some of the amazing builds that our members create? Then be sure to come out to the Golden Spike Days Festival in Port Moody this Canada Day long weekend. The festival starts Thursday the 30th and runs through Sunday July 3rd.
For more information on the Golden Spike Days Festival visit their website here.
There’s also a lot of buzz around our next event! That’s right! VLC will be returning to the Honeybee Festival at the Honeybee Center in Surrey. This festival starts July 16th through to the 17th .
For more information on the Honeybee Center visit their website here.
This past weekend VLC was at the Scandinavian Midsummer Festival in Burnaby. Here we had a city layout for people to see including some pop-culture build and builds on landmarks in the Lower Mainland. Can you spot them?
Please note that most of the LUG activity on our site takes place in the Forums. Members and the wider AFOL public are always talking about everything to do with LEGO®, so feel free to check it out.
We are NOT to be confused with The LEGO® Group of companies. We do NOT represent them in any manner, nor do they endorse, sponsor or authorize the VLC. We are simply enthusiasts, builders, hobbyists and consumers of the many wonderful things that The LEGO® Group produces.
