If you live in the San Francisco Bay area, or planning to visit there this weekend, don’t miss out on one of the largest LEGO convention, Bricks-by-the-Bay. Bricks-by-the-Bay is a special four day event for LEGO fans held from Thursday August 7th to Sunday August 10th, at the Santa Clara Convention Center (adjacent to the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara). If you are interested, below is more information about the event. 🙂
This is our fifth year for Bricks-by-the-Bay, and it has been growing steadily. It draws LEGO hobbyists and LEGO clubs from around the country, even internationally, and features LEGO club displays as well as individual LEGO creations, contests, vendors, and keynote speakers. This time over 50% more exhibit and vendor space has been added, increasing the convention floor to over 33,000 square feet. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are registered attendee exclusive days. And on Sunday they will have a public exhibition from 10AM to 4PM, with early entry at 9am and last entry at 3PM.
As mentioned above, and as is customary at most LEGO conventions, the first three days are a closed event for registered attendees only. If you have been to other conventions such as BrickCon (Seattle), BrickFair (Virginia/Alabama/New England), BrickWorld (Chicago), Bricks Cascade (Portland), etc. you are already familiar with the basic format; LEGO fans gather in a large hotel ballroom to display their models and participate in a variety of games, contests, presentations, discussions, and other fun activities. You can read more about the convention and how to register here: Bricks-by-the-Bay Convention
If you were planning to attend the first three days of Bricks-by-the-Bay you should have already completed your registration, as last minute and on-site sign-up are not allowed. However you may consider attending next year. If you are a serious LEGO fan it is really worth attending the convention part of these events. You have the opportunity to meet others in the hobby whom you only met online before, and see their LEGO models up close and personal, and of course you can also display your own LEGO models. And there are also the workshops, discussions, games, contests, and other activities throughout the first days that are really fun.
Unlike most LEGO conventions, Bricks-by-the-Bay has only one public day, on Sunday. So if you can’t make it for the other days, at least check out the exhibit on Sunday. The entire convention floor will be filled with LEGO creations on display and vendors selling all kinds of LEGO and LEGO-related accessories. For the public day you can buy tickets ahead of time, or also at the door. There are several ticket options (early-bird, regular, at the door, early entry), but they range between $10-$20 and kids under the age of two are free. You can read more about the public day and how to purchase tickets here: Bricks-by-the-Bay Public Expo
If you have attended Bricks-by-the-Bay in previous years and would like to share your own experience feel free to share in the comment section below. And if you have any questions you are welcome to ask as we have contributors on our team who regularly attend the event. 😉
And you may also like to check out the following related post:
- Tips for Attending a LEGO Convention
- BrickWorld Chicago – 2014
- LEGO Bricks-by-the-Bay Convention – Part 1
- LEGO Bricks-by-the-Bay Convention – Part 2
- LEGO Convention Philly Brick Fest Coming!
- LEGO Event Philly Brick Fest Repeats!
- BrickWorld: Have Fun in the World of LEGO!
- LEGO Users Groups In South East Asia
- Your Bridge to LEGO: Kevin Hinkle – Part One
- Your Bridge to LEGO: Kevin Hinkle – Part Two
Is the Bricks Cascade convention in Portland Maine, Portland Oregon, or some other Portland that I haven’t heard of?
It’s in Portland, Oregon. 😉
Does anyone have a comprehensive list of upcoming AFOL conventions for the rest of the year and for 2015?
Andy, I added a list to the following article. It consists of the 2014 conventions, but there are links to all the conventions websites so you can take it from there to find out next year’s events: http://thebrickblogger.com/2014/04/tips-for-attending-a-lego-convention/
I wish I could go…
I will be there on Sunday and I am excited!!!! It should be super fun! =D
Kim, keep us posted on how it went. I talked with Will and unfortunately him and his wife are not able to go this year as Sarah is not feeling well. Have lots of fun! Oh, and take some cash for all the vendors! 😉
I definitely will keep you posted. I’m going a bit light on what I’m going to purchase from vendors or at The LEGO store nearby this trip because later this month I’ll have funds available to purchase either Parisian Restaurant, Fairground Mixer. But hopefully I can find maybe a few cool small things to grab. I did get the early bird ticket so I will have a printed brick for the con.
Yeah, that area has like 3 LEGO stores? So jealous! I have to drive 2 hours to get to the closest one! Some of the vendors have special items for cons, so at least those are worth to pick up. Also, if you have small things like polybags, they are great to take along for trading. 😉
Turns out I will have a little more money to spend. I had less money this time because the person I was going with had to bail due to some un-forseen circumstances but I found someone else. We’re also going to hit up the theme park across the the street on Saturday because they have discounted tickets after 4pm. So because I now will be sharing costs, I will have a little more money to spend even adding the Great America ticket. =D
Nice! Have lots of fun! 😛
I wish I could go to one of these conventions, but nothing seems to be near New Jersey. 🙁 Plus, my family’s moving, so we couldn’t even afford it. 😕
There is one in NJ! http://www.brickfair.com/NJ
Awesome! Thanks! The only problem is that it’s in Somerset, and I’m in Medford, and they’re probably 3 hours apart. 🙁
Off Topic: My Exo-Suit arrived in the mail today and I wanted to know if you guys know of any sites that post modification ideas.
I saw Admin’s modified suit on Flickr, any others?
That’s awesome! You really going to like it! There are lots of modifications posted on flickr. Here are mine (latest version): https://www.flickr.com/photos/akunthita/sets/72157645936632911/. I should put together a gallery for the others. But if you just search for LEGO Exo Suit on flickr you will find the other ones. 😉
Hey everyone! I’m overseas right now! I’m glad I can still check these posts! 🙂
Recently I saw a massive helicarrier! It was at one of the LEGO conventions.
Have fun, wherever you are! That helicarrier sounds like fun! 🙂