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The North Georgia LEGO® Train Club
(NGLTC) decided to go for a non-traditional Christmas tree this year at our 5th
appearence at the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s (CHOA) Festival of Trees.
Measuring in at just under 9 feet tall and 6 feet wide, the NGLTC's tree is
made entirely of green LEGO bricks.
I began the construction of the 25,000
piece tree in August, and after long nights of building the tree was
finished two weeks before the deadline for the 29th Annual Festival of Trees
which is held at the Georgia World Congress Center.
Thought this is our 5th year working
on a tree for the festival, this is the first year building a LEGO tree.
The NGLTC tree is decorated with
LEGO® ornaments built by patients of the CHOA, local school children and NGLTC
club members. Third graders from Matt Elementary School in Forsyth County spent
a morning building ornaments to help decorate the tree. The students were
excited to have the opportunity to play and at the same time help out other
children who where in need.
We held two building sessions with the patients of Egleston children’s
hospital. The patients and family members gathered in the hospital’s activity
room for an afternoon of LEGO® ornament building and some fun time away from
being sick.
Once all the ornaments were completed each one was prepared for the tree. This
year the NGLTC was given the honor once again of being a “Focus tree”, which
means that our tree was set away from the other 200 trees at the festival.
Along with the LEGO tree we had four smaller
"table top" trees that were decorated by each of the building groups. These
trees were sold to raise money for Children's Healthcare of
Atlanta. The tree was on display to the over 900,000 vistors from December
3th – December 11th.
Plus December 8th was declared LEGO day at the
festival, the NGLTC set up a large free style building area where children
could come and spend time building their own LEGO creations. All of the
children’s creations were put on display at the festival. LEGO goodies and
official LEGO Master builder cards were given to all the children who
participated in the fun.
The Festival of Trees, Atlanta’s premier holiday event, benefits Children’s
Healthcare of Atlanta. Visitors can stroll through 150,000 square feet of
decorated trees, wreaths and decorator vignettes created by the city’s top
artists and designers. The Festival also features magnificent gingerbread
houses, an assortment of specialty shops and an array of children’s activities.
This extraordinary event has become a tradition of Atlanta’s holiday season
while raising much needed money for quality services and facilities for
children at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. The NGLTC is proud to be a part
of this event and hope to continue supporting the CHOA in future events.
The NGLTC would like to thank LEGO® and LEGO® Retail for their support of this
project, the tree display could not have happened with out it.
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