Thousands expected in Raleigh for 11th annual Lego Con

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — The BrickUniverse 2025 Imagine Tour rolled into the Raleigh Convention Center this weekend for the 11th Annual Lego Con.

“It brings in a lot of revenue for the city of Raleigh,” Roland Bates said.

Organizer Roland Bates said around 10,000 Lego lovers, nicknamed “brickheads” and “clickers,” are expected at the interactive event from throughout the country to create, to explore, to collect, and for at least one couple, to find everlasting Lego love.

“(It’s) The ultimate Lego fan convention. We want to show that Lego is not just an art. I mean, not just a toy, but it’s an art form.”

What’s New This Year: Record Number of Local Exhibitors: More Raleigh-area builders than ever before will be showcasing their incredible creations. Lego Maze-Building Experience: Attendees will have the chance to learn how to build their own Lego maze, a brand-new interactive experience that sparks creativity for all ages.

“I like being able to use Lego as a medium to help inspire kids, kids of all ages, to just use their imaginations and their minds and so forth,”  Lego artist Mark Lorah said.  “That’s one of the reasons I did the Capitol dome back there.”

Lorah also created a life-sized bald eagle.

Other builders, from inside and outside The Triangle , showcased their creations — some of which are animated — from trains to table tennis; from modern cities to the Wild Wild West; even Jurassic Park.

 “Me and my brother built this,” Hazekiah Hanna said.

 “I built the roads and it was kind of hard,” a young Bering Hanna said.

“I’m reading ‘Anne of Green Gables,’ and the book inspired me to create,” Marina Hana spadded.

Others displayed recreations of well-known pop art as well as Lego recreations of iconic art including Michaelangelo’s “The Creation Of David.”

“I love working with a variety of different pieces,” Lorah said. “It usually takes about twice as Long to design the pieces as it does to actually build them. For instance, the Capitol Dome, which is my largest piece by volume and number of pieces, are about 40,000 pieces in that one. It’s got about six months to build it, but about a year to design it.

And there are 12,000 pieces in each of the eagles.

Many of the brickheads found themselves falling in love with the building blocks of the brick-verse.

“It’s just like overwhelming emotions,” Anthony Stapleton said he also found himself deeply in love with his girlfriend, Samantha Sears.

 “My hands are shaky.”

Stapleton said he couldn’t wait to build a life of  Lego and love with Sears as fiancés first then as a married couple of clickers forevermore.

“We have enjoyed Legos for two years together or longer. It’s been longer than two years. And I couldn’t think of another place that represented both our story and our love moving forward.”

So, Anthony Stapleton  got down on one knee and proposed at Lego Con to Samantha Sears.

He had the engagement ring ready to go right inside this extra specially made Lego box, of course.

“I told my sister I was going to propose, her and her son got together and made the box so I could put the ring in it so I could propose to (Samantha) with Lego (bricks)  at the Lego exhibit.”

Samantha said … yes!

“I’m happy, I’m excited!” “It was amazing!”

BrickUniverse runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Raleigh Convention Center before the 2025 Lego Con tour takes off to the next city, Kalamazoo, Michigan in August.