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Hi everyone, hope you’re all well.
I was recently asked by The Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County to assist in fitting their makerspace with technology recommendations. One of the conversations that came through this consult was their Lego events. To make a long story short, I proposed the possibility of a Steel City LUG event to replace one of their many small Lego events throughout the year.
I was able to secure a $500 payment to our LUG for one, 8-hour day at the main branch of the library in Youngstown. They would like to have some small activities, display models, and anything else the LUG would like to do. Matt has had a lot of great ideas for what to offer through my initial conversations with him. The date of the event is October 24th.
Some points to know:
• Travel money is included in the $500. After getting paid, LUG would have to reimburse members directly.
• The models on display can be anything you want to show – they WILL be protected by Library staff.
• The Library has a massive Lego collection as it is, but if LUG wants to bring its own brick inventory, that’s fine – we just need to make sure it is separated from the Library’s collection.
• They will have Lego movies/documentaries playing throughout the space.
• There will be moderate press/PR and social media coverage. They want to take photos and videos and distribute those to the appropriate channels.
• IF this event is successful (which I’m told their Lego events have the highest attendance of all their events), this could become an annual OR semi-annual thing. Frankly, it’s up to us if we want to contribute. They are ready/willing/able to support any ambitions the LUG would have.
• Again, the event is a Saturday only, for open hours of the library, October 24th.
• I’m hoping to do a Lego Digital Designer demo in their computer labs for kids interested.
• I’m also building a minifigure-scale replica of the main branch of the library as a demo on the day of the event.
• Youngstown is an hour away from Pittsburgh on the turnpike. It’s a simple drive. It’s cheaper coming into Ohio than it is out unless you use back roads through Beaver County…which is an adventurous (and free) drive.If the LUG is unwilling or unable to participate, the event will still go on, but it won’t have the punch it could have without LUG. I’m hoping that this could be a consistent money generator for our group.
Thoughts appreciated. Feel free to call/text/e-mail if you have questions.
RJ Thompson
412-779-7665
a.rewrite@gmail.comOK, here’s the plan, kids:
DISPLAY: whatever people feel like hauling and setting up for the day. Probably the standards plus individual contributions. @iamrjthompson – will they have plenty of tables available? We may or may not want to haul our own custom tables for this one…
ACTIVITIES: I’m recommending we use the library’s brick (so long as they have enough – we’ll try to confirm) to do Tallest Tower and Strongest Bridge competitions, perhaps alternating between the two every hour or something – depends on how much turnover we expect with the attendees. We also should take the racetrack and our wheel bases so kids can build cars and race them (@zaximillian – we’ll need your services!) – we could use LUG brick for that if it’s separated from the library’s supply. Those three active/hands-on attractions should be sufficient (we can also set up a free build area) to keep people occupied, in conjunction with the movies, etc. RJ already mentioned.
INCENTIVES: The LUG traditionally has not offered gas money reimbursement – it’s too complicated to determine which events merit it, who “deserves” it, etc. – for example, @timf has a 1-mile drive to Cranberry for events at the library there, but @team-holp has probably an 80-mile drive – how do we decide what’s fair? SO… here’s what’s on the table:
PaB Credit – seeing as we established “premium rates” for the FayCo fair (a little further than usual for most members), and seeing as this is an opportunity to earn cash money for the LUG (which can be used for more tables, other supplies, that trailer we’ve been meaning to buy…) the committee has decided to continue in that tradition. As such: THREE CUPS of credit will be offered for the morning shift, THREE CUPS of credit for the afternoon shift, and ONE BONUS CUP will be offered for staffing BOTH shifts. So if you participate for the whole day, that totals SEVEN CUPS.
Lunch – The LUG will cover lunch for anyone who staffs this event. There’s a sweet little hot dog shop just a few blocks from the library, Suzie’s Dogs and Drafts, which is highly recommended, or other options may present themselves on game day.
SIGNUP: Here’s a Doodle. Library opens at
8sorry, 9 and closes at 5:30, so shifts will be 8:30-1:30 and 1:00-6:00 to allow for setup and teardown (we may need to shoot for 8AM, depending on how much time the display setup will take.)This has the potential to be a SUPER FUN DAY, to EARN MONEY TO SUPPORT OUR LUG, to become an ANNUAL THING, and to have CELEBRITY GUESTS*. Don’t miss it.
* – some potentials are bigger than other potentials…
CELEBRITY GUESTS
Like former Youngstown State head football coach and former Ohio State football head coach and now Youngstown State University President Jim Tressel??? Rock on! Everyone wear sweater vests! :-p
Seriously, this sounds like a great event. I’m checking my calendar but hope to be able to be there for the entire day.
Lisa just told me about it. I’m definitely going to be there all day. She isnt sure if she will be in town.
I’d definitely be interested in helping out with this, if my schedule permits it. I like to do a lot of things to help libraries.
*I don’t know why, but as I was writing this my first thought was “holy crud, a ghost is posting!”*
DISPLAY: whatever people feel like hauling and setting up for the day. Probably the standards plus individual contributions. @iamrjthompson – will they have plenty of tables available? We may or may not want to haul our own custom tables for this one…
I was thinking that since this is our first time there, we should approach this similar to the Girl Scout event. No coordinated display; just bring whatever you want. It would be neat to have various themes represented, for example: Town (me, Greg, Ben); Space (Evan, Dan, Dan), Modified sets (Nick with the Star Wars carousel; Modulars/modular compatible (Joe, Josh with the Whipped Café); Microscale (Micah, Aaron); Trains (Laura); etc. It does not have to be a huge amount of stuff, just a variety and good quality.
I would say no to bringing our own tables, at east this time. Once we have one event under our belt and have had a chance to scope out the available space, we can use that for future planning, presuming we would decide to participate in this event again.
I would say yes to the racetrack. Straightforward activity and very popular.
at east this time
Youngstown’s more Northwest, actually…
we have ALL the tables we could possibly need. They do many events.
We’ll have most of the first floor available to us, in particular a large section at the front of the building.
I was thinking that since this is our first time there, we should approach this similar to the Girl Scout event. No coordinated display; just bring whatever you want. It would be neat to have various themes represented, for example: Town (me, Greg, Ben); Space (Evan, Dan, Dan), Modified sets (Nick with the Star Wars carousel; Modulars/modular compatible (Joe, Josh with the Whipped Café); Microscale (Micah, Aaron); Trains (Laura); etc. It does not have to be a huge amount of stuff, just a variety and good quality.
Easy and interesting display. Sounds like a good plan.
Just bumping this – going to focus on Maker Faire until we get through that, then start thinking details on this one. Currently we have 5 people signed up for all day – me, @pete, @zbauer, @solscud007, and @finntegotash. That’s not bad, more certainly welcome. Further bulletins as events warrant.
Does anyone know what they’re bringing yet? Tim had some good ideas but most of the people he mentioned won’t be there.
I definitely want to go and schedule-wise, it looks like I will be able to. I was going to bring my microscale Pittsburgh buildings and maybe a few other smaller things.
Can we coordinate a car pool?
No way, Jose! We are going for maximum environmental damage!
Just kidding. Yeah, I’m sure we can. Let’s get through Maker Faire first, mmmkay? 😀
OK. T-minus seven days. Per the Doodle, we have at least seven people signed up for the whole day, so staffing shouldn’t be an issue. Other things we should sort out, though…
What we need:
1) TRANSPORTATION
– of people (carpools recommended; take an EZPass if you have one)
– of stuff
– Racetrack (well worth taking if someone can fit it in a van or truck or SUV and can get it from/back to Josh’s house)
– play brick and baseplates for build challenges and free build (bins can fit in sedans / trunks)
– weights for strongest bridge (@iamrjthompson – think the library would want us using books? We’ve done that before…)
– I plan on driving, can fit 3-4 others if needed (although that makes transporting the PGH bridge harder if I have more than one passenger since I put it in the backseat), and can take the other stuff I have in my trunk. I think.2) DISPLAY
– Like Tim suggested, we probably don’t need a ton of coordination here, but it’d be nice to have a rough idea what people are bringing so we have a basic plan for setup (I do think we should shoot to arrive at 8 for that, which probably means getting on the road around 6:30 for most of us…)
– I have Greg’s PGH Bridge, as well as Harry Potter and Mr. Rogers and the LUG signs and QR code. Maaaybe I’ll bring something else; we’ll see.3) What am I forgetting?
1) I live at 317 Glaser Avenue, PGH 15202. I drive a Prius. I can have the seats fold down to create more space, but that would mean I could only take one other person in the front passenger seat. I’m willing to drive solo and carry parts to Youngstown and back to my house if space is a concern. cell 4127797665
I have at least a dozen or so large gray baseplates we can use. I’ll take them with me. My name is on the back of each one.
Last time I checked the Library has ~25 books for us to use for the bridge.
2) I don’t know if I’ll bring anything. The library f-ed up the brick orders for the model I built for them so my ‘mini-event’ isn’t happening. They asked me to build a mini version. We’ll see. I might use my own bricks for that.
3) The tolls going into Ohio are fairly cheap, but coming back at the last gate it costs $6.20. I’d bring cash. The drive is relatively straightforward, so set your cruise control. Suze’s Six Pack and Dogs is within walking distance, so no need to drive – BUT if the weather is cold, I’d bring a jacket. It’s a 10 minute walk, if that.
I just added my name to the Doodle for the 1-6 time slot. I’m 90% sure I’ll be there (unless any of the kid’s baseball games get rescheduled for Saturday afternoon). I’ll bring my Pittsburgh miscroscale buildings to add to the display.
@iamrjthompson do you have the street address for the library? Is there parking on site?@timf there is FREE parking on-site. 305 Wick Ave, Youngstown, OH 44503
Hey guys, long time no see! I should be able to make the first half of the event next weekend. If someone would be able to bring my LUGBULK, I would greatly appreciate it. 🙂
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