For a fun departure from our regular shows, our own Daniel Pikora spoke at this year’s FOSSCON in Philadelphia last week. At most of our events, the focus is on the completed models on display, but at the Free and Open Source Software CONference, the focus was on the software we use in the process of getting our creations to do what we want. You can view the LEGO and Open Source slides in the presentation’s GitHub repository.

PennLUG member Kelly Hoffman’s model of the Pagoda in Reading, PA was recently featured in Reading Magazine. While we’ve enjoyed seeing this model at a few recent PennLUG events, it’s always nice to see one of our own get recognition from outside the LEGO hobby community.

After a few of our members were at Brickworld Chicago last week, we’ve got a few people exhibiting at Philadelphia Mini Maker Faire this upcoming Sunday. Billed as “The Greatest Show and Tell on Earth”, Maker Faires feature a variety of (primarily hands-on and/or educational) exhibits about different things you can make. You may have heard that we can make some interesting things out of LEGO. Look for the exhibit “LEGO Fan Display”, which will feature a moonbase and an interactive DUPLO Ball Run.

As previously mentioned, we currently have a display at the Great Philadelphia Comic Con in One By One Cat Rescue‘s booth. This event runs through Sunday. This is a great chance to see our more comic- and pop-culture-based models, models involving cats, and of course, models involving superhero cats. It’s also a great time to make a donation to One By One Cat Rescue or learn about adopting or fostering a cat.

As a reminder, we will have a display (including our train layout) visible to the public this weekend at Brick Fest Live Philly in Oaks, PA.

We’re hitting the road to bring Moonbase, Great Ball Contraption, Mini Con, snails, the DUPLO Ball Run, a small town layout, and more to BrickUniverse Raleigh. We’ll be joined by other notable AFOLs from around the country, including Jonathan Lopes, Abbie and EJ Bocan, Rocco Buttliere, and Paul Hetherington. Public hours are split into two sessions each day on Saturday, April 14th and Sunday, April 15th. Tickets are available now – we recommend ordering online because this event has sold out in the past.

This year marks the return of Scouting for Bricks, a Boy Scout troop fundraiser that also serves as a full-blown LEGO fan expo. After taking a year off (while Troop 39 changed scoutmasters), the event has moved from Leesburg to Chantilly’s The NZone. Tickets are available online. The event is open from 5 PM – 9 PM on Friday, April 6th, and 9 AM – 5 PM on Saturday, April 7th. PennLUG members will have a small display and also participate in the Great Ball Contraption collaboration.

The Lebanon Daily News has posted picture galleries on their website of the Richland Community Library‘s Books to Bricks event in 2017 and 2018. We’ll try not to hold it against them that they neglected to credit PennLUG for building displays that were a main attraction to the event each year. PennLUG members and models feature in photos 6, 8, and 9 of the 2018 gallery and photos 14-19 of the 2017 gallery. The remaining photos depict activities and/or parts provided by the Richland Community Library.

PennLUG members will be a draw for One By One Cat Rescue‘s booth at the Great Philadelphia Comic Con in Oaks, PA. Our space is confirmed for April 27th-29th, 2009. This is a great chance to see our more comic- and pop-culture-based models, models involving cats, and of course, models involving superhero cats. It’s also a great time to make a donation to One By One Cat Rescue or learn about adopting or fostering a cat.

During yesterday’s successful Books to Bricks – Great Space Odyssey event, our contact at the Richland Community Library confirmed some details for next year’s event. We can announce now that PennLUG will appear again at Books to Bricks on March 2nd, 2019. Since it’s early yet, we don’t have a theme for next year’s event, but we’ll post more information here once we nail down details for next year’s event. Save the date now so we can see you there!