COMMUNITY
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
herMIsTOnheraLd.cOM • A7
Competing brick by brick
challengers, families
gather at hermiston
Public Library for Lego
competition
By ERICK PETERSON
hermiston herald
This past weekend, Julie
Lara was able to take a breath,
finally. For weeks, she pro-
moted an event at the Herm-
iston Public Library. Even the
day before the event, as she
was setting up tables, she said
she was not fully confident
people would attend.
“I just don’t know,” she
said on Friday.
Even though registrations
were in, and people were tell-
ing her they would be there,
she said she was not fully cer-
tain the crowds would come.
On Saturday, however, her
feelings changed.
“I’m
pretty,
pretty
excited,” she said, on Satur-
day, after she saw the large
attendance.
On Saturday, Feb. 26, The
2022 Lego Build Challenge
took place. There were two
categories for the competi-
tion — home builds, in which
competitors created unique
Lego designs at home, and
the 100-brick challenge, in
which they put together cre-
ations in a set time limit.
Both contests took place with
around 30 competitors each,
which pleased Lara.
Lara, the owner of a Lego
store, JB Brick Company,
295 E. Main No. 1E, Herm-
iston, saw the large gathering
on Saturday and proclaimed
the event a success. Creations
filled the tables, and people
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
Daniel Wattenburger talks with his niece Millie Wattenburger,
6, about her Lego creation. The 2022 Lego Build Challenge
on Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022, brought builders from across the
region for a pair of contests at the Hermiston Public Library.
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
Competitors begin a 100-brick build challenge Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022. The 2022 Lego Build
Challenge was the first event of its type in Hermiston, according to event organizers.
was present at the challenge,
too. While Lara buzzed
around the room, meeting
people’s needs, Bobby Lara
sat at a table and welcomed
competitors.
“This is great,” he said.
“Julie did a great job, and
it turned out well. We’ve
wanted to do this since before
COVID happened, and we
had to put it off. This has been
our goal for a while. To see it
take off, it really makes me
happy.”
Competitors express their joy
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
Xavian Peak, 8, shows off his award and his Lego creation on
Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022, at The 2022 Lego Build Challenge.
packed a downstairs room in
the library. Competitors and
their families were present.
“A lot of these people
have been frequent custom-
ers of mine,” Lara said. “I’ve
been seeing them buy sets.
Now, I get to see the other
side of things, with them
building and working their
creative juices.”
Her husband, Bobby Lara,
Part of what made her
happy, she said, was to see so
many smiling faces. Xavian
Peak, 8, and his mom, Gina
Peak, were among the big-
gest smilers.
“This is fun,” he said. “I
like that you can connect (the
Legos) together and make
huge things out of them.”
He added that he has made
many other large designs,
including ones of his favor-
ite video games.
Xavian had made a 100-
brick build that included a
yeti and a tower. In addition,
he created an at-home build
of Adam and Eve, which
garnered him a third-place
victory in its category.
Byron Spicerkuhn, 9,
was another prize-winning
competitor at the contest.
He said he, too, enjoyed
Legos.
“I like being able to build
things my own way,” he said.
His creation was his inter-
pretation of a scene from a
Dog Man story. It took him
two hours to create, he said.
“This was a lot of fun,” he
said. “I’ll be back.”
There were two ven-
dors at the event. Lara, her-
self, was one of the sell-
ers, as she set up a table to
sell Lego sets. A seller from
Yakima, who said he wants
to start his own store, was
present to also sell Legos
as well.
“This is my first attempt,”
Rob Gifford said, as he had
never sold Legos before. He
added that he was grateful to
Lara for telling him about the
event. He said he was selling
a lot of Legos at the Lego
Build Challenge, and he
would open his own store if
he could continue to do well
with booths like the one he
set up on Saturday.
“I’m impressed by how
this turned out,” he said.
A frequent customer to the
Hermiston Lego store, he
said he was happy to see
many happy people and their
Lego creations.
Lara said she intends to
repeat this event at the Herm-
iston library next year. Also,
she is planning at least one
other event in the area soon.
“The Irrigon library has
already asked me to do one
in the fall,” she said.
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