Everything is Awesome at Calgary’s first LEGO KidsFest

The event sold out in near record time with an estimated 30,000 people walking through the doors by the end of events Sunday evening.

The various stations included a giant pile of LEGO pieces, where families were seen burying each other in piles of blocks, sloped courses to race imaginatively designed LEGO cars and tested a LEGO bridge.

Spending time with his dad at one of the individual build stations, eight-year-old Grayson had a tip for anyone wanting to get serious about LEGO.

“I’m building a LEGO Hero Factory character and looking for the right pieces, uou’ve got to dig to find the best ones,” he said.

Trying to build the best LEGO car, eight-year-old Ethan said adding more wheels doesn’t hurt.

There was also a board set up for those who see LEGO as more of an art form.

“We’re building a picture with a blue sky and a tree,” said 10-year-old Ester, choosing to use only one-peg pieces for the project.

Tanya and her husband brought their daughter out where they all sat down among the purple and pink DUPLO blocks to build a castle for Cinderella.

“LEGO is fun for all ages as we can see here,” she said.

Event spokesperson Tracey Weiss said that timeless fun is exactly why LEGO keep gaining popularity.

“If you pick [a piece] up from 1950 it will still fit a 2014 version and I think that’s part of the charm of it, is that it’s classic but it always has a new twist,” said Weiss.

She said she thinks the fact this year’s events sold out faster than almost every other year is a nod to the popular LEGO movie which hit theater this year.

“We did have a LEGO movie building area here and that’s been pretty popular and we’ve also had the costumed characters who show up periodically for photos, so the kids just love it,” said Weiss.

The three-day event involved over three acres of LEGO and included a life-size LEGO museum and a giant aerial view Canadian Flag made up of a mosaic of hundreds of LEGO towers.