Father’s Day, a time to celebrate the strength, courage and determination of fathers everywhere. What better place to do that than the annual Brickworld Chicago Convention? It certainly took all of these traits and more as my wife and I took our 6-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son to the huge gathering of LEGO enthusiasts, but it was well worth it.

Founded in 2007, Brickworld started in the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg, where adult fans of LEGOs (AFOLs) could meet and interact in a single ballroom of the Renaissance Convention Center. A five-day event, Brickworld takes up almost the entirety of the Renaissance Center.

Starting on Wednesday, June 14, the first three days of the event opened to exhibitors and attendees who planned all year to share the experience of LEGO through panel discussions, presentations of new building techniques, and the construction of tremendously detailed displays of all things LEGO. It’s these beautiful displays that drew in the locals when Brickworld opened to the public for its final two days over the weekend.

The sight of over 100,000 square feet of castles, baseball stadiums, trains, spaceships and entire cities built using nothing but LEGOs is just awe-inspiring. My children were instantly mesmerized by everything they could see, and being enthralled by every new display helped them get over any trepidation they (and I) had about their first convention experience. They delighted in the minute details such as horse stables in the Revolutionary-era village and gleefully pointed out Easter eggs such as Spider-Man swinging from tower to tower at Harry Potter’s school of Hogwarts. They marveled at how someone could take a photo of a rock star and turn it into a mosaic out of LEGO Dots. They wondered loudly how practical effects seen in a Hollywood film, such as smoke out of a chimney stack, could be seamlessly added to a display. It proved difficult to get my son to move on from the enormous train yards, but thankfully he realized there was more to see.

And while you could literally spend all day admiring the display exhibits, Brickworld is not just about looking at LEGOs. A large section of the main hall is dedicated to the fun of building, as easily more than 100,000 red bricks are made available for kids to let loose with their ideas to rival those displayed elsewhere in the convention. My daughter had a blast putting together various structures, including a breathtaking heart, while I had the chance to take a seat on a nearby chair and rest my weary feet. There were also various competitions such as LEGO robot sumo matches and speed builds to enhance the entertainment value even further.

And, of course, what convention would be complete without dealers selling their wares? Numerous booths were filled with LEGO sets old and new, ready to go home with a lucky kid and parent. My son zeroed in on the first fire truck he saw, while his sister was more meticulous and wanted to see what each dealer had to offer before making a decision. It would be easy to say the dealer booths were simply a bastion of commerce, but they also added a level of activity you normally do not see at similar conventions. Many tables had “build a figure” sections, with parts for heads, bodies, legs, and more, neatly organized for visitors to go through and create their own designs. With other attendees hovering, my daughter showed amazing patience as she looked for just the right parts to make the figures that would come home with her. She lasted a lot longer than most other folks, including her daddy, who tapped out early.

A cauldron of fun and imagination, there’s so much going on at Brickworld that two days seems hardly enough time to take it all in. As we walked out of the show late Sunday, my daughter gleefully told us what we needed to see and do at next year’s Brickworld. Father’s Day next year is going to be awesome!

— Jason Fleigel, guest blogger