Idaho LUG Blog

April was very busy with four separate STEM events including support for the Kuna School District First LEGO League. We have two more STEM events coming up in May. 

MOCFEST planning is ongoing and we are looking forward to our best show yet. We will have more display space and many more public events. If you would like to volunteer  or present at the show let the leadership team know.

There are some STEM events scheduled for this summer. BSU is having an Astro Adventures Camp for 3rd through 6th graders. There are several camps scheduled for June. V.E.R.N. are doing LEGO Robotics Day Camps in July for ages 8-13 in Boise.

We have been asked to support a few other events beginning with the Boise Comic Arts Festival on August 30th and 31st. We have also been invited to participate in the Ontario Oregon Festival of Trees sometime in November, most likely the week before Thanksgiving. These events are opportunities for us to display our MOCs and interact with the community. More information coming soon.

Show and Tell

Shawn & Michael Train layout example	Shawn - Moving table	Andrew - Dragon Knight & woody wagon
Jennifer - Spring Scene	Will - Droid Shop	Greg - GBC Module
Luca - RC Car	Jake - Car Wars

Activity

Shawn and Greg lead a discussion of part categorization and organization strategies. Many great ideas on how to sort and store your LEGO parts. If you have an idea for an activity you would like to share during our monthly meeting please let us know. Next month we will be discussing adding motion to your MOCs. 

We will be taking Avatar to Bricks Cascade in Portland in May. If you are going to be there let us know.

Our next meeting will be on May 22nd at Bricks & Minifigs at 7PM.

The beginning of the year is usually full of STEM or STEAM events at many of our local schools. We have participated in seven events so far with about five more scheduled in the upcoming months. Many thanks to the many members who have participated and helped make these events very successful.

MOCFEST 2025 is fast approaching and we are meeting regularly to plan out our premier event. If you want to help out reach out to the leadership team to get involved. We are asking builders to purchase passes this year, you will still register your MOCs through the IdahoLUG website. Public tickets are also available with an option to purchase a VIP add-on to get exclusive LEGO builds.

Show and Tell

Andrew - Shuttle & Monster Truck	Jeremiah - D&D Characters and Monsters
Jake - Car Wars	Thad - Portal Machine	Group Quilt Squares
Matt - Emmett and Lucy's Home
Sean - Lampshade and Chainmail		Custom Tokens

Our next meeting will be on April 17th at Bricks & Minifigs in Boise, looking forward to seeing you all there.

Happy New Year! We had a great turnout for our first meeting in 2025, thanks to everyone who brought builds for show and tell.

As usual we will be helping out with many STEM events around the Treasure Valley. We will need people to help with these events go to SignUpGenius to volunteer. Here is a list of STEM events we have scheduled so far.

• 30 January - Horizon Elementary 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
• 6 February - Anser Charter 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
• 6 February - Hunter Elementary 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
• 20 February - Roosevelt Elementary 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm
• 22 February - BSU Science and Technology Fair 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
• 10 April - Adams Elementary 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
• 11 April - Compass Charter 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Show and Tell

Zach - Jedi Starfighter and Droids	Jake - Crab Mech	Lori - Heart Artwork
Thad - Helmet	Emmanuel - Rock Monsters	Declan - Classic Minifigures
Connie - Modified Ice Festival	Daniel - Animaniacs	Austin - Applejack from My Little Pony
Gerd - disco rollercoaster and Santa's post office mashup	Luka - RC Car	Michael - Train Cars

Activities

In 2025 we are going to offer workshops, training and other activities as a part of our meetings. Greg spent some time discussing the various activities included with the STEM kits that we use at Elementary schools around the valley. Laura provided a workshop on creating low const lighting for LEGO displays using batteries and LEDs. Next month we are planning on doing an introduction to Great Ball Machine (GBC) modules.

We also gave out some non-LEGO baseplates for inspiration in making a simple MOC for a large LEGO Quilt that we will put together in March. If you picked up a baseplate we are looking forward to your creations. If you would like to participate in the project please contact Chris

Future Meetings

We have been meeting on the first Tuesday of the month at ABU Games for a LEGO game night. We are currently running a D&D campaign and many other LEGO board games are always available. If you would like to play some LEGO board games, bring your own games or just want to have more time to socialize with members of the LEGO community we would love to see you. Our next game night is scheduled for February 11th at 7PM.

Our next meeting will be the third Thursday in February (20th) 7PM at Bricks & Minifigs.

As an official LEGO User Group we get a support package from LEGO every year. Some of these sets are given out as prizes to the public at our various events. We also give some of these sets to our members based on their volunteer time. This is one of our biggest meetings of the year and it is a lot of fun.

Announcements

Festival of Trees is November 27th - December 1st, we will be loading in sets beginning on Monday November 25th. Anyone who has some winter/holiday themed MOCs that they want to display at the event are welcome. We are also providing LEGO free play and a Make-and-Take set for sale. All proceeds from the Make-and-Take go back to the Saint Lukes Foundation. Any members who want to volunteer to assist during the event are also welcome.

Bricks and Minifigs will have a brick sorting event on Tuesday December 3rd from 3PM - 7PM. You can earn some free bulk as well as discounts in the store.

Our annual Christmas Party will be on December 19th. Please bring your favorite treats to share. If you would like to participate in our Dirty Brickster gift exchange bring an official LEGO set valued at at least $20. We will provide all of the rules for the gift exchange during the meeting.

Show and Tell

Austin- 53 Buick Skylark	Austin - "Red Thunder" Helo
Logan - Winter Scene	Shawn - Rainbow Idaho

Looking forward to 2025

Once again a big Thank You to everyone that volunteered in 2024! We have many more opportunities to volunteer next year.

We have started a LEGO game night where we bring in LEGO board games to play. We will be starting a D&D campaign as well.

Have a safe and wonderful Holiday season and we look forward to seeing everyone at our December party.

Our October meeting featured many Halloween builds and attendees voted on their favorites. The top three builds are shown below. The rest of the builds are shown below.

Members Top Voted Halloween MOCs

Zach - A Star Wars Halloween	Ethan - Necromancer's Castle	Tim & Holly - Castle and Pumpkin Patch

Halloween MOCs

Ashley - Jack & Sally	Austin - My Little Pony Changling	Chris - Haunted Farm
Connie - Firehouse	Daniel - Custom Minifigs	Emmanuel - Graveyard
Luka - Remote Controlled Car	Luna - Portal II Scene	Meredith - Scary Tree
Shawn - Chainmail	Luna - Portal II Scene	Shawn - Monster Fighters Sets

Announcements

Several members brought builds out to Witches Night Out at the Village on Wednesday 16 October. It was a bit wet but there was a good crowd and it was a fun event. Looking forward to participating again next year.

Saint Lukes Festival Of Trees begins on 27 November 2025. We are looking for lots of holiday builds to display up in the kids area. We will be loading in on Monday November 25th. There are many opportunities to volunteer to help with our make-and-take, free build area as well as talking to visitors about the Idaho LUG and the builds. There is a SignUp Genius link on our facebook group as on the homepage for logged in members.

Our upcoming meetings will be very busy. November is our member appreciation night and final prep for Festival of Trees. December is our annual holiday party with a gift exchange and treats. To participate in the gift exchange bring an official LEGO product worth at least $15. All the rules will be covered before the gift exchange begins.

Still looking for feedback on our Game Night proposal. We would like to do an additional monthly meeting to play games if we get enough interest. Our initial plan is to have members bring games in like Chess or Ludo to share with others who would like to participate. If we get enough interest I would like to run an AD&D campaign based on the LEGO Dungeons & Dragons set.

Our next meeting will be at 7PM on November 21st at Bricks & Minifigs, looking forward to see you there. 

Our September meeting was well attended, we saw some great MOCs and had donated bulk LEGO available for purchase. 

Events

We have been invited to display MOCs at Witches Night Out at the Village at Meridian. We have been asked to bring Halloween themed MOCs to be displayed in front of the LEGO Store on Wednesday October 16th from 6PM - 9PM. You can register your MOCs on this site which will help us determine the amount of table space we will need. More information about the event can be found here.

Our next meeting will be on 17 October 2024. We are asking everyone to bring their Halloween MOCs to our meeting for a show and tell. Greg has promised some prizes and we are looking forward to seeing some great builds.

Festival of Trees will be November 27th - December 2nd at the Boise Center on the Grove. We will once again be displaying MOCs in the Kids area. We will also be providing some activities during the event. We need lots of volunteers to assist with the activities as well as monitoring the area. Volunteer sign-ups will be available soon.

Show and Tell

Austin - 1966 T-Bird	Austin - AquaZone Vehicle	Austin - Christmas Truck
Ashley - Tree	Daniel - TMNT Diorama	Luca - RC Car
Jake - Millennium Falcon Coffee Table	Thad - Broadsword

Other Items

We are considering doing a game night once a month at ABU Games. This would be an additional monthly event for members of the LUG. The plan is to start a Dungeon's and Dragons campaign based on the new Dungeon's and Dragons: Red Dragon's Tale Set. We will also have a variety of LEGO board games. If you have a LEGO board game feel free to bring it along. Dates will be announced soon.

A new LEGO series Rebuild the Galaxy is available on Disney+. Greg recommended the series, let us know what you think.

We hope to see you all at Witches Night Out and at our next meeting!