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Howdy All,
Renee from First Night called me about two months ago. She invited me
and my wacky team of staff to participate at Boise's FIRST NIGHT
celebration...the family oriented version of New Year's Eve. "What a
great way to ring in 1999" I thought. I asked Renee what she wanted in
terms of a "build fest." She was not entirely clear...we would have a
space and a table indoors. She wanted some sort of sculpture or
something
we built and something for the children attending First Night could
participate in.
Check out pictures at
www.weirdrichard.com/1nite.htm
I decided to ask staff/former PCS student Matt Hardy to build a giant
clock...and he did! Using 4 of the large baseplates, he created a
clockface.
Add a series of the large planetary gears and viola! A 1999 Lego clock
to mark the new year. ( The clock survived, but not well. Matt used the
TECHNIC II CONTROL CENTER to program it, and many could not resist
experimenting with the black box... the clock was finally put out of
commission when a 24 spur gear blew apart! Ouch! ).
We packed about 200 pounds of Lego bricks and baseplates we set off.
We were moved several times, but the First Night staff was very helpful
and enthusiastic! PCS ended up in the front lobby of the Ether Simplot
Performing Arts Buildining Annex, facing 8th street where most of the
foot traffic would occur. We hung Matt's clock, put out some literature
and
dumped the Legos!
PCS students and staff built some interesting items while helping 100s
of young children at the event. Of note, they built a replica of the
pole and
ball that appears at Times Square. The ball dropped at midnight!
This was a lot of fun to do for PCS! I talked to dozens of parents and
100s of kids!
This was a tremendous success as a Buildathon. I guess that many of the
kids were bored of watching the Ballet and Opera and decided that a
little old fashioned Lego building was the best thing they could do on a
chilly night. I asked kids to build something to represent the New Year
or
1999. I photographed dozens of "1999s" and "Happy New Years." I liked
the 2 people who built "Y2K" messages. Others built Lego fireworks,
castles, houses, spaceships, people, skiers, and Christmas dogs! ( One
fellow built a war toy, and I told him we do not encourage war toys and
would not take a picture of it. He came back with a Lego Holiday House!
) Everyone had a great time and I hope we added to the charm of the
New Year!
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