A unique local tradition returns Saturday when families assemble to “Build Little Silver with LEGOs” at Embury Methodist Church. (File photo by Dustin Racioppi)
Some American municipalities lay claim to their Zombie Walks; their Shad Festivals; their bug-eating, wife-carrying, turkey-bowling, Flax Scutching competitions that serve to distinguish one dot on the map from another.
Here on the greater Green, one seemingly small-scale event looms large enough to serve as a major signifier of community pride and family togetherness — a role that it’s fulfilled for the past five years.
Back again for a 2015 edition this Saturday, January 24, the fifth annual “Build Little Silver with LEGOs” session commandeers the community room at Embury United Methodist for a collaborative endeavor in which residents recreate such hyper-local landmarks as Markham Place School, the borough firehouse and the historic host church in delightful detail, using those mega-popular plastic bricks and buckets of assorted accessories.
It’s all a colorful fundraising vehicle for the Little Silver Historical Society, in addition to “an educational and bonding experience for parents and their children.”
With the brick-and-mortar world of LEGOs continuing to attract new generations of fans in a supposedly all-digital age — even drawing in scores of new “AFOL” enthusiasts alongside the school-age crowd — the Little Silver event offers participating teams an opportunity to select from a list of some 25 buildable structures, to be positioned on a 12-by-18 foot scale map of the borough. Families pay a per-team entry fee of $25, with spectators welcome to cheer on their neighbors from the sidelines free of charge.
Photographs and information on all of the featured landmarks are made available from the Historical Society — and for “bragging rights,” eight to ten of the final creations will be displayed in the front windows of the Little Silver Post Office Museum (next to the Public Library) through the month of February.
There’s still time to register at the door on the day of the event (parents must accompany children), which runs from 1 to 4 pm.
