5 Years Ago, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away-I LUG NY Began to Form

         OK, so the Palisades is not a galaxy far, far away but the New York LEGO scene does seem like a different galaxy however. In 2009, there wasn’t a New York Adult Fan of LEGO group active online. Five years ago there was one LEGO Store in New York located in West Nyack. It was at this LEGO Store at the Palisades Center Mall where a change began to take hold for the New York AFoL community.

     I emerged from my Dark Ages in 2006 while visiting the LEGO Imagination Center in Orlando, Florida. I reconnected with my favorite childhood toy and learned online that I was not alone. There were other AFoLs out there posting pictures to brickshelf.com, having discussions on lugnet.com and being blogged on brothers-brick.com. What I could not do was find adult LEGO fans who lived in New York.

     In 2009, while at a garage sale and then on flickr (where much of the AFoL community had moved their photos to by then) I managed to meet three other AFoLs and this was the start of Long ILUG, the Long Island LEGO Users Group.  Meanwhile, in West Nyack, there were other AFoLs who were former employees of the LEGO Store there. Mike Bader and Lee Magpili were members of the New York Brick Artists, a LEGO fan group that was also looking to connect with other fans.

     The post card pictured here advertised a LEGO building event at the West Nyack LEGO Store which was held from September 25-27th, 2009. When this post card arrived, my first thought was “maybe I’ll meet other AFoLs there.”

     I went to this event and began building 8x sized LEGO bricks to be placed onto the 8-foot tall Brickbeard model. There were people in yellow LEGO aprons working the event and some wore black LEGO aprons. I couldn’t understand what this color difference meant at the time but the two people in the black LEGO aprons were building 8x bricks as well. I decided to go to their tables and chat with them. I learned they were volunteers (those wearing yellow aprons were employees) who were LEGO fans AND they lived in New York! Woo-hoo! We exchanged emails and phone numbers and a new LUG was starting to form.

     2010 brought about great change for the NY LEGO Store scene as three new stores would open their doors. Lee would be instrumental in getting the four of us involved with these store openings as we built the Brand Ribbon models for the Garden City, Long Island store. Lee also gave me his contact at LEGO to arrange building for the Elmhurst, Queens LEGO Store. The LEGO Store at Rockefeller Center opened that year as well but had the models for this store built elsewhere.

     Delivering the Brand Ribbon models for these stores before they opened were the first LUG events/activities we took part in. It was a real treat for us to do so. Since then we have gone on to build the Brand Ribbon models for the LEGO Stores in Westchester, New York and in Elizabeth and Freehold, New Jersey.

     As 2010 progressed, Lee began to pursue a career with LEGO but before leaving to Billund, he asked me to contact another NY based AFoL, named David Pagano.  In September, Lee left for Billund and the four of us, (Mike, Jon, David and myself) displayed our MOCs at Maker Faire, NY. It was at this event that we chose David’s suggestion of “ILUGNY” as the name for our consolidated group.

     Members of ILUGNY have been building friendships ever since this first store event advertised on the post card. What began as a small group of builders has grown into a group of about 40 LEGO fans and we are always looking to add new members to the group to share this amazing hobby with. If you are interested in learning more, please visit https://www.ilugny.org/about/contact-us/.

     The following is a short list of events I LUG NY has participated in over the years.

     Since forming our club we have:

  -volunteered for 8 LEGO Store Building Events

  -built dozens of LUG Showcase models for several area LEGO Stores

  -displayed at Maker Faire, New York, each year since 2010

  -displayed at Brick Fair Virginia each year since 2010

       (earning nominations and winning several Brickees along the way)

  -displayed at New York Comic Con 2011 at the request of LEGO

  -made two appearances in Brick Journal magazine

  -made an appearance on TV (News 12)

  -have models on display in the Queens Theatre as part of the 75th and 50th anniversaries of the NY World’s Fairs

     We’ve also worked collaboratively to put on LEGO shows of our own:

   -at Lyndhurst Castle each year since 2011 but even earlier than that as Mike, Lee and the New York Brick Artists were doing this before helping to form I LUG NY

  -at the Larchmont and Hendrick Hudson Public Libraries in 2013

  -at the Stamford Museum and Nature Center in CT which is a show that member Bill Probert had done prior to joining the club and for the past four years with the collaboration of the LUG

  -ILUGNY members have also visited schools to share this amazing hobby with young builders

     In 2013, ILUGNY donated LEGO to two area children’s hospitals and will be doing so again this year. This will be an annual effort as we look to partner with different local hospitals each holiday season.

     While September 2014 marks the 4th anniversary of the name “ILUGNY” it also marks the 5th anniversary of our start at the LEGO Building Event advertised on that post card.  As for the “FREE Pirate Key Chain with a $25 Purchase!”- I never got one. What we left that event with were the beginnings of a LEGO User Group for New York!