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Hi All,
There have been some responses to an announcement made at BrickFest 2003 about
the 2004 west coast fest. I truly apologize that this wasn't accompanied by a
post to LUGNET with more details. I have been a bit busy the last two weeks with
the ILTCO public roll out, SigGraph, and BrickFest 2003! There have been many
good points made and questions asked that I hope this announcement will address.
Thanks!
SteveB
BrickFest(TM) PDX 2004
I would like to announce plans for the 2004 west coast LEGO festival. It will be
held February 13th-15th, 2004 at the OR Convention Center (OCC) located in
Portland, OR. The fest will be similar in format to the past events including:
speeches, displays, sessions, building challenges / competitions etc. And with
exactly the same goals: fostering community, putting names to faces, and fun,
fun, fun!
Some background.
It has come to the attention of several members of the 2003 BricksWest
organization committee that BrickMedia will not be pursing a west coast LEGO
festival in 2004. We have attempted to contact him and had no responce. Any
questions or comments about this should be directed to Matt Gerber. We in no way
are attempting to "hijack" this awesome festival, but merely want to ensure the
continued momentum on the west coast that Matt worked so hard to create.
Representatives from clubs of the west coast: Robert Powell (SPLTC), Dan Pearson
(SCLTC), Russell Clark (BAYLTC), All (PNLTC), (VLC - TBD) have agreed to try
having the conference in a different city on the west coast each year. By moving
the festival we believe that it will maximize attendance by allowing LEGO
enthusiasts that live with in driving distance to participate more easily, and
we all know that once you attend a LEGO festival you'll want to return the next
time no matter where it is! Moving the festival each year will also seriously
reduce coordinator burn out and offer the local club the
opportunity to become deeply involved in supporting this community effort.
A second effort was made to gain consensus among the former festival "theme
managers", organization committee, and other community leaders including: Tim
Courtney - LDraw, Frank Filz - Gaming (Arrr), Steve Barile - Trains, Jon Palmer
- Space (Moon-base project), Dan Parker - BW Expo Coordinator, Todd Thuma -
Ani-Film Fest, Christina Hitchcock - BrickFest, & Mark Neuman - NW Brick Con.
(Note this is not a complete nor exhaustive list of all theme managers /
community leaders.) After the announcement at BrickFest 2003 in DC, many others
have spiritedly offered their support. So with the support of the west coast
clubs and the community leaders we felt that we could move to the next step.
The first concern was securing a location for the fest. PNLTC's Jeremy Rear has
graciously offered to display his giant model of the OCC in the lobby of the
real OCC for 1 year in exchange for the ~6500 square feet of meeting rooms in
the brand new OCC expansion (it's a wonderful facility)! This request was
excitedly accepted in a recent meeting we had with the director of the OCC.
Since the name BricksWest is a trademark of BrickMedia we did not have the
option to use it. We then approached BrickEvents (Christina Hitchcock, Denise
Jadud, Stephen Roberts, Kevin Loch) with our plans and intentions asking
permission to use the variation of the BrickFest name, BrickFest PDX, and they
agreed (FYI: future events will need to make separate requests for name usage).
This vote of confidence is based on the BrickFest PDX 2004 pre-organizing
committee's combined reputation and the fact that the venue is
secured.
It is well established that these festivals are held for the fans and by the
fans, however it is also well understood that organizing such a complex effort
can not be done efficiently by a committee. We will soon be making announcements
soliciting volunteers to support all the LEGO theme areas and the necessary
administrative positions. It is our vision that each theme will have a small
group of volunteers and they will select a leader from within that will be part
of the event organizing group. It is also our intention to use a combination of
local club members and past administrators for the administrative roles; this
way we get the best of both worlds, past experience and face-to-face meeting
opportunities. Descriptions of these roles will
be posted at the time of solicitation.
More info.
6,500 sq. ft. of space: 1 giant main room, 1 giant expo room, & 2
large class rooms
Downtown Portland (a beautiful city I might add!)
The light rail (MAX) connects the airport to the OCC as well as the
rest of down town.
We hope to see you all there!
Steve Barile
Event Coordinator
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Message has 9 Replies:
 | | Re: BrickFest(TM) PDX 2004 Announcement
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| (...) I know this question is going to come up, so I will answer it now. The PDX is the airport 3 letter/digit designator for the Portland airport. Or you can assume any of the following versions of what PDX means: BrickFest PDX - Pretty Dam (...) (21 years ago, 12-Aug-03, to lugnet.events)
| | | Re: BrickFest(TM) PDX 2004 Announcement
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| Woohoo! I think I'll make it, I was saving leave days for Brickswest, with it being in OR the leave days will be more well used! I hope to be there every day, lots of trains, fire engines, town...;-) Josh (21 years ago, 12-Aug-03, to lugnet.events)
| | | Re: BrickFest(TM) PDX 2004 Announcement
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| (...) Steve, First and foremost, let me wish you luck with this event, and let me also thank you for taking this on - I know it is in no way a small task. You should be applauded for taking this on. But at the same time I do have concerns about this (...) (21 years ago, 12-Aug-03, to lugnet.events)
| | | Re: BrickFest(TM) PDX 2004 Announcement
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| (...) Steve, I really hate being petty about this, and if I sound like an school kid who didn't get picked to play kick ball I apologize. However, was the exclusion of Lugola here an oversight or an intentional slight? Back before Matt took over (...) (21 years ago, 13-Aug-03, to lugnet.events)
| | | Re: BrickFest(TM) PDX 2004 Announcement
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| Steve, I want to say that I think what you've started rolling is very exciting! I'd love to be a part of it, but I have a work commitment that weekend so I won't be in attendance in 2004. That may be an ongoing problem, in fact, so I hope that with (...) (21 years ago, 13-Aug-03, to lugnet.events)
| | | Re: BrickFest(TM) PDX 2004 Announcement
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| (...) As somewhat an outsider I've decided to put in my two cents worth. I went to the first BricksWest just to see what the "Lego Community" was like and since I worked with Matt to create the badges and trophies, etc. (I'm the guy who engraved the (...) (21 years ago, 13-Aug-03, to lugnet.events)
| | | Re: BrickFest(TM) PDX 2004 Announcement
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| finally, a brick related festival coming to portland. that said, i've never been to one, and would love to know what to expect. i'm not a member of any lego related clubs (nor do i plan to be), but i am an AFOL that builds his own MOC's, and likes (...) (21 years ago, 14-Aug-03, to lugnet.events)
| | | Re: BrickFest(TM) PDX 2004 Announcement
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| I just wanted to take a moment and place NWBrickCon's attitude toward this event. It can be summed up fairly easily. *NWBC supports the LEGO community and any events generated therein. Meaning, we'll support BF PDX. We'll also support BW should Matt (...) (21 years ago, 14-Aug-03, to lugnet.events)
| | | Re: BrickFest(TM) PDX 2004 Announcement
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| So very sorry! My first goal was to gain consensus with *all* the west coast clubs before proceeding, and (fall on a sword) I completely overlooked Lugola. Please accept my apologies! I'm a bit of a train head and was contacting all the people that (...) (21 years ago, 14-Aug-03, to lugnet.events)
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