Lego Building Competition, Children’s Parade highlight celebrations final day
This year’s LEGO building competition winner Chris Wight, right, shows off his winning entry to Randel McGee, dressed as Hans Christian Andersen, during Solvang Danish Days on Sunday.
The winner of the Solvang Danish Days Lego Building Competition created a scene depicting Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” which included showing the writer himself at his desk busy crafting his tale as seen through the window of a second-floor enclosed porch, officials said Sunday.
The Lego scene, built by Chris Wight of Southern California, was that of a whole village with all kinds of characters set against a background of buildings, and on some of the roofs were storks similar to the ones several Solvang residents put on their own roofs, said Anna Ferguson-Sparks, Danish Days’ media relations director. The Lego creation stood about 2 to 3 feet wide by 18 inches to 2 feet deep and 1 ½ feet high.
“It was beautiful,” she said. “It really showed that someone had put so much thought and story behind what he did.” Wight, who earned a $500 prize, also won Solvang’s Lego Building Competition in April.
The competition has a Hans Christian Anderson theme, where each builder is assigned one of Andersen’s fairy tales and instructed to build their own interpretation. The builders start from scratch, each at a different location in Solvang. Anyone who comes gets to see professionals building in real time, said Ms. Gail.
The winner was announced at Solvang Park where all the finalists’ Lego creations were brought an hour earlier for viewing and judging, she said. “It was a big draw,” with many of the day’s festival-goers choosing to attend. The Lego Building Competition was the highlight of Sunday’s Danish Days activities, which drew thousands of spectators, just like it did the day before, she said.
Another highlight was the Solvang Danish Days Children’s Parade, with kids from throughout the Santa Ynez Valley walking a short route due to their ages (12 and under), and ending at the gazebo at Solvang Park.
“It’s open for free to anyone who wants to join in,” she said. Lots of people come on Sunday just for their children to get their wish to walk in the parade, she noted.
The final entry of the parade was the overall best entry from the main parade on Saturday, a water scene complete with flamingo above simulated rain, built by five Solvang families working together and entered into the competition by Nielson’s Building Materials of Solvang.
This year’s Solvang Danish Days, the first held in three years after the Covid pandemic shut down the festival in 2020 and 2021, “went better than anyone expected, especially since people didn’t know what to expect,” Ms. Ferguson-Sparks said. “People just really wanted to get back into the swing of things. There was a lot of positive energy.
“Everybody was just happy. It was nice to see.”
The 2022 Solvang Danish Days theme was “Velkommen Igen,” translated “Welcome Again,” celebrating this year’s event, which honors the 1911 establishment of Solvang by Danish-Americans.
email: nhartstein@newspress.com
