Today’s guest article comes from James Ritzman, Master of Ceremonies for Bricks Cascade in Portland. He shares how the event organizers decided to forgo a virtual event this year in favor of a grand picnic, what effort goes into planning a LEGO event, and what meeting in groups means to him.

A Year and a Half Ago

Let me take you back a year and a half. It’s March 2020. Bricks Cascade LEGO Fan Expo in Portland, Oregon (USA) was one day away from wrapping up its most successful Recognized AFOL Networking Event to date—its 9th consecutive event. More than 500 AFOLs and 12,000 public attendees had come through the doors over the four-day event to see 60,000 square feet of wall-to-wall original LEGO fan creations, vendors, games, and interactive exhibits. We’ve even managed to bring in more than half of the cast of the LEGO Masters US Season 1 as VIP special guests.

The lines to get into the public day on Sunday snaked out of the exhibit hall and deep into the convention center. For the organizing team, it was a sight to behold. We’d NEVER seen public enthusiasm and response to this level prior. It was also an affirmation that we had been doing the right things after a course correction in 2016 that required fresh leadership, a different perspective, and a renewed commitment to the AFOL community.

But – and there’s always a “but” in these stories – there was a palpable pall over the event that Sunday, March 8, 2020. National news media had been talking about a novel respiratory coronavirus that had the early warning signs of a pandemic. At the time, it wasn’t even certain how it spread or how deadly it was or could be. Up until then, most known cases in the US had been limited to Seattle, WA and New York City, NY. However, that Sunday of Bricks Cascade, reports had come in of the first known case in the state of Oregon.

Our organizing team is made up of people with amazingly diverse backgrounds. It seems like we always have the right person for whatever gets thrown at us. Our theme coordinator, a registered nurse, was very cognizant of the alarming problem and scoured the metro area in the early hours Sunday to try to find sanitizing wipes and hand sanitizer as a preventative measure for people attending the event.

By that time, the shelves were already bare. There was already a run on paper products such as paper towels and toilet paper. Prior to opening, we used the sanitizing wipes we were able to muster and sanitized down the stanchions protecting the tables of MOCs on display. It was only within a matter of days after the conclusion of the event, that the world shut down.

As any event organizer knows, a marathon four-day event is incredibly taxing and exhausting. Considering the 9th Bricks Cascade was the largest one to date, juggling all the moving pieces at that scale and ensuring AFOLS and public attendees are happy and satisfied. We also know from experience, you have to have a post-mortem while memories are fresh so that you can evaluate what went well, what could be different, and apply that learning to the next event.

We didn’t get that luxury. You know that scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, where Indy is trying to outrun the massive boulder before the rock walls close? Bricks Cascade 2020 was Indy’s fedora. We escaped by the skin of our teeth. And the future of AFOL events looked more and more questionable.

To Go Virtual or To Not Go Virtual?

So what do you do as a convention organizer for an encore in the time of COVID? LEGO Recognized AFOL Networking Events are pretty precious. There are only 12 in the entire world, and a disproportionate concentration of them happen to be on the West Coast of the US (Bricks Cascade, BrickCon, BrickCan, BricksLA, Bricks by the Bay).

It’s a pretty tight-knit and special group of dedicated volunteers. We’re friends, and there’s definitely some light-hearted competition as well. We also shamelessly steal each others’ ideas. But ultimately, the goal is the same – to partner with LEGO to create a fan networking experience for AFOLs and the public.

COVID tested the ingenuity and organizational skillsets of all conventions worldwide. Some organizations hosted virtual conventions with great success during the first 18 months of the pandemic. Those virtual events were born out of necessity and adaptation to rapidly changing circumstances, but they also provided a real lifeline to many AFOLs to continue to stay engaged, keep their spirits up, and have some semblance of human contact when travel and events were so restrictive.

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The Bricks Cascade organizing team had kicked around the idea of hosting a virtual event, but after seeing how well it had been done by other teams, the bar had been set. We couldn’t stomach the idea of producing a less-than-stellar virtual event. So, we waited. March 2021 would have been our 10th anniversary (“A Decade of Cascade”), but with the state of the world, we let it pass without fanfare. If we’re going to celebrate 10 years, we’re going to do it the right way, on our own terms.

Let’s Have a Bricknic

In Spring of 2021, and with restrictions starting to ease up, the idea was floated up about an outdoor convention. Outdoors would present challenges, but we would have better success adhering to state guidelines regarding face coverings and social distancing. For those familiar with the Pacific Northwest, summer weather can be notoriously difficult to predict. We decided August would be the safest bet most likely to have good outdoor weather. We found an outdoor pavilion in a suburb west of Portland that was ideal for an outdoor activity. Then of course, we had to have food and drinks. We decided early on that this event would be open to AFOLs only – no public.

As the idea started to jell, it became apparent that we were proposing a much different type of activity than a climate-controlled AFOL convention. But remember how I said earlier that our organizing team is made up of people with amazingly diverse backgrounds? Providence seemed to have a way of putting the right people in place at the right time.

One of our committee members has a background in foodservice and was able to provide the guidance needed to safely provide food for attendees in accordance with public health guidelines. Some of our organizing team had their own equipment, tables, coolers, etc. which meant less spending on rental equipment or outside providers, which translated to more of our investment could be put back into the picnic itself and the AFOLs. The “Bricknic” began to take shape.

This being 2021 though, nothing was going to be entirely smooth. The Pacific Northwest has had a historically hot series of heatwaves over the summer, and most of the Western US is in some level of drought conditions. The forecast for the Saturday event called for highs of 95 F (35 C)! To make matters worse, some of the worst wildfires in the US have been in Oregon and surrounding states, so the air quality was less than ideal. To make matters even worse, the Delta variant has led to a surge of COVID cases through the US.

Opening the Bricknic Basket

In spite of the obstacles, an intrepid group of nearly 200 AFOLs came out to Friendship Square for an all-day convention with games, prizes, goodie bags, and food. The “Bricknic” event included all that you’d expect from a normal LEGO convention: badge bricks, convention kits, freebies, giveaways, and other goodies. Our resourceful crew was also well-prepared for the environmental factors with plenty of bottled water, handwashing stations, awnings and shade covers – and even a cooling station if attendees needed.

The main covered area in the pavilion hosted the AFOL MOC display. It was a real treat to see AFOLs interacting one-on-one and able to share their builds, their building techniques, and inspiration with each other as peers. As I joked to a few colleagues that no one ever asked the questions “Is that LEGO?” “How many pieces does it have?” or “Do you have instructions?”

The midday, stifling heat settled in, and although many intrepid AFOLs remained, there was definitely a smaller crowd by the end of the day. One of the Bricks Cascade founders, Bob Day, has been involved since the beginning, and the Bricknic happened to fall on his birthday. His daughter and granddaughter and a handful of others prepared a surprise birthday celebration with cupcakes and ice cream bars for everyone who remained. It was a great way to cap off a fun and invigorating event that really demonstrated the closeness of the AFOL community.

Some Assembly Required

The 2018 Bricks Cascade theme was “Some Assembly Required.” That was tongue-in-cheek – of course, assembly is required with LEGO! But I gave it some thought, and realized it had another interpretation – “assembly” as in an “assembly of like-minded people.” In that case, I realized that was also poignantly true. The AFOL community is built on assembly, on gatherings and on sharing with each other.

I had a moment at the 2021 Bricknic when I realized it had been almost 18 months of no feasible assembly. It occurred to me just how much I had missed that, how much I had missed the laughs, the joy of being with friends and my tribe.

Virtual meetings had taken the place of face-to-face gatherings for our LUG meetings and conventions. We couldn’t witness our creativity in-person, but only on Instagram or Flickr. But even for the most introverted or insular of us all, “some assembly” is truly required. Hopefully, events like the Bricks Cascade “Bricknic” filled that collective need, even if only for one day.

There are still challenges ahead of us, but I remain hopeful that Bricks Cascade will be able to commemorate its 10th annual LEGO Exposition next year on March 10-13, 2022. Stay tuned for more information about how to register and take part in the full Bricks Cascade LEGO AFOL Networking Event experience next year!

What is your personal expression of “some assembly required”? Let us know in the comments below, and check out this YouTube event report on the Bricknic from Captain Xavier.

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