RVALUG News for June 2025

This past month RVA LUG enjoyed a break from a busy late winter/early spring event schedule. LUG activities this month included participating in an Inter-LUG activity called Jambalaya at our Monthly meeting and enjoying a club dinner at The Answer Brew Pub. LUG Jambalaya is a multi-group activity based on an old LUGNET game called “LEGO Jambalaya Swap.” Jambalayas were a common activity throughout the late 90s, with the last wave of publicly shared Jambalaya being organized in the early 2010s on websites such as Flickr, Classic Castle, and Eurobricks. The basic premise is that a box filled with a mix of LEGO and LEGO-related things travels between FOLs and they each change the contents. The items in the box are considered either Interesting, Unwanted, or Requested. RVALUG Received the Jambalaya bin from WAMALUG and our members enjoyed swapping items into and out of the Jambalaya bin at our May meeting.  Now the Box is off to HARD LUG in the Hampton Roads area. Many thanks to Debbie W. Connor O. and Andy G. for coordinating this activity. Website Maintenance If you’ve visited our website recently, you may have noticed a few changes.  Many thanks to Josh H. and Ben C. for their work through out May to improve our site.  We appreciate Ben giving our LUG web page a facelift with new graphics; like the banner featured at the top of our newsletter this month! Josh took time out of his busy schedule to develop a calendar widget that will always feature the next two events on our schedule at the top of our home page. Getting this important information front and center helps keep curious browsers informed of our LUG activities and the many opportunities they have to connect with us in person.  Upcoming Meetings and Events: Upcoming meetings hosted at the Guzman Center (5200 Fitzhugh Ave, Richmond, VA 23230) LUG Meetings: June 21st 1pm to 4pm; Build Challenge is Builtmor Theater! July 19th 1pm to 4pm; Build Challenge is to build a potted plant/flower August 16th 1pm to 4pm; Build Challenge is a seed part challenge. The challenge is to create any MOC that incorporates brick separators. Save the Date! Our annual “End of LUG Year” Barbecue is coming in September. We will once again be hosted by Tyler at his Goat Farm, In Ashland VA. The Party is also our September LUG Meeting, which will start at 3pm for this event. The party is September 20th 3pm to 7pm; Build Challenge is to Select any set, and re-theme it. (Ex. Friends X-Wing) Join us on discord to participate in planning our displays for these upcoming events: Ripple Con: June 28th.  Ripple Con is Richmond Public Library’s annual Comic Con. Tyler Ripley is coordinating a LUG display for this event. BrickFair Chantilly:  July 30th to August 3rd At the Dulles Expo Center Dennis R. is coordinating the overall layout for this event, while Brian S. is coordinating the City blocks for the City and Train layout. We are looking to revitalize RVALUG City. Try to build a new structure or park MOC to be featured in our City and Train Layout. Corner buildings wanted!  We need more MOCs, not Modular sets from the LEGO Creator line, please. View Full Calendar Rogers: The Musical! A MOC By Tyler G. Build Challenge Spotlight Reminder that the June Build Challenge is “Opening night at the Builtmor Theater!” This challenge is to build a show for Tom’s Builtmor Theater. Choose a favorite Broadway show or movie moment to be featured in Tom C’s theater. Who knows, maybe you will hit the bigtime and be featured in the show rotation at Brick Fair Chantilly! Tom’s build guide for this challenge can be downloaded from our website here. Thanks Tom! Last months Build challenge was Micro Star Wars! Ransom, Hillary J., Andy G., and PJ C. had  a great time working with this challenge. Some of their creations can be seen below. Better Know a LUG Member! This months featured LUG Member is Laura Hayden! Tell us about your favorite LEGO theme: City Space-I love NASA, space ships, and the moon. I would love to walk on the moon. I also enjoy building Harry Potter, trains, the Creator series, City, castle, and Star War sets. What is the last LEGO set you built? What did you like about it? What made you buy it? Creator 3-in-1 Record Player. I bought it because of fond memories I have of playing records when I was very young. I love music. I like the color and the size of the finished build. The details, such as the moving gears to make the records spin, the needle, and the overall fun of building the set. What is the earliest LEGO memory in your life? Building with my brother when I was about 7 years old. If you have an instagram or flickr, link to it here. laura.hayden.56 Interested in being our featured builder next month? Please use this form to tell us about yourself and we will add you as the featured bio in an upcoming newsletter. Follow this link to complete the featured member interview.