Palmerston North Brick Show 2016

It started on a wet Manawatu Friday afternoon. The Barber Hall in Palmerston North was the setting for the first Brick show to come to Palmy.

We opened the doors in the early afternoon with only a couple of exhibitors to start the set up. With over 80 tables to set out the work took around 4 hours to get the set up right.

Our initial worries of filling such a large venue soon became history as we needed to squeeze in extra tables to fit everybody in. By Friday nights, 10pm we were ready for the big event!

9am Saturday morning we were still putting up the barriers and had to delay the opening by 20 minutes. The extra tables needed more barriers and rope. A quick trip to Bunnings was needed.

We had a steady flow of visitors all day and exceeded the 2000 people needed to break even. There was a great feeling of excitement mixed with fear as many of our exhibitors had never shown before. However all our exhibitors were soon mixing with the public and talking about their sets/mocs. This is what it’s all about. The exec team walked around and could see many of the exhibitors really passionate about their sets/mocs giving our visitors an improved experience. Added to this was the play area that was busy from opening to closing. A big thanks to some of our exhibitors for having a go in the Lego Nexo-knight suit. It was very hot work but a real crowd pleaser (apart from the few children that ran away terrified).

At 5pm we all heaved a great sigh, sat down after many hours on our feet and officially closed the show for the day.

After the show was exhibitor time. We decided to try a new approach for the LEGO show support and have a ‘BINGO’ ball game. All the exhibitors were given a number. The PN LUG rep picked out the numbers at random from the ball machine. As soon as your number was called you had to leap up and pick a Lego LUG support gift. However we had one prize short so the last person was able to choose a gift from the Toyworld shop. After the Pizza, drink and Bingo game we all went home to rest for the Sunday.

Sunday came too soon and most people’s days started off with already aching legs. We had an amazing turn out from the people of Palmerston North with queues outside the venue for most of the day. However the exhibitors kept talking and their enthusiasm for the event was heart-warming. A big thank you to all the exhibitors from the Well-Lug committee, you really made the weekend.

All in all the weekend was a great success for the visiting public, our LUG members and the two charities involved who received $3500 each. Roll on the next show!