Lego theme park comes to Dodge County Fair

A model carnival midway built completely from Legos will be a new display at the Dodge County Fair this year.
            Blair Lovig, the sound director for the fair, is designing a carnival midway made of Legos. “It started last year, I was wanting to display my models here,” he said.  “I got really excited for it because it’s something new. Everyone at the fairgrounds in the creative arts has something to show off, whether it’s plants or flowers, so I thought, what about Legos? Why not have a Lego exhibit?”
 Blair is featuring Legos that have been made into a theme park. He plans to display some theme park sets and others that are unique, including the original Nintendo Lego set that dates back to the original Mario game and includes a television set made of Legos.
As of July 9, Blair had the roller coaster and carousel sets nearly ready to go. He has a team of master Lego builders to help him put several more sets together. “We have a lot more hours of assembling to do,” he said. The carousel, which features an elephant, a flamingo, and a swan, still needs some finishing touches. “We’re still working on the roller coaster model,” he explained. “We have to put in the actual chain that makes it move.”
Blair is the lead designer of the park. The team is still working on the ferris wheel, he said, and they will also create a Scrambler ride. The layout will include concession stands and ticket booths, with a railroad that will go around the park.
One of the more elaborate displays is a Jurassic Park set that contains over 3,000 pieces. The Haunted House, also using over 3,000 pieces, includes a lot of artifacts, such as the Sphinx and the Ruby, that date back to old sets in Lego history. “There’s a story behind this set, how Baron actually stole all these relics that are displayed in the Haunted House,” Blair said.  “He traveled through time to get them, there’s a Lego video about it. A lot of the pieces are retired, you can’t get them anymore.”
The layout will have everything from a dunk tank to a bell-ringing pole and a cotton candy stand. Blair designs many of these displays himself. He has created semi trucks made of Legos that transport the parts of the carnival rides. The various rides are set up on Lego boards so they can be moved to the display location in the Commercial building on the fairgrounds. “We plan to have display cards that tell how many pieces are in each part of the layout,” he said. 
Another idea of Blair’s is to have a Lego building contest, which he hopes to have organized by next year, and he is looking into having Lego or the Mall of America as sponsors. “We’ve been in touch with them, and they’re excited to see pictures and videos of the layout.” His dream is to have kids participate in the contest, and to be able to have the contest winners take their creations home free of charge.
Blair got interested in Legos as a child. As an adult, he likes having something to do during the winter, so he’s continued to collect and create things with the Legos. “I’ve always loved Legos,” he remarked. Several years ago he gave some of his collection to his nephew, who’s now 17, and is still enjoying them. “I enjoy showing people these models,” he said.  “They do take up a lot of space!”