On June 6th to 9th I had the pleasure (again) to visit the 4th installment of the Paredes de Coura Fan Weekend in Portugal. This was actually the 10th time the event was run, but the first 6 years it was named Arte em Pecas and wasn't aimed to be the international event it is today. I am personally very pleased with the event and it is always on my wishlist for events that I ask to visit in a year. Partly because there are so many events, that I can't go to all of them. But also because it has participants from a lot of countries and a lot of communities represented - I believe this year had around 20 different countries there and we had 13 Recognized Communities represented in the Ambassador Meeting.
But honestly what I love the most about the event is the setting and the low-down casual friendly way in which everyone goes about the whole thing. I am not saying this is better here than at other events - not at all. I've been to many events in the past 20 years of AFOL life, but there is something about this event which is very special - at least to me and I believe that applies to quite a few of the AFOLs, TFOLs, partners and friends going as well. If you don't believe me, then I suggest you try it out for once and then let me know if you still disagree.
Miguel, the members of Comunidade0937 and the entire city does a stellar job at setting up the event. Paredes de Coura is a beautiful city in the mountains (they could be hills, but to a Dane - these are MOUNTAINS!), the towns people are super friendly and the food is good. What's not to like?
As an additional treat, the swag bags of past years were on display. Some great stuff in those swag bags. One of my favorites is that the event set from each year is connected. First we get the Ricky the Rooster, then he gets a car, then his girlfiend Henriquetta and this year the offspring - Gregg.
The event also has several shops which sells all kind of things LEGO related. Home made jewelry with LEGO bricks, new LEGO sets, loose LEGO bricks, old LEGO sets and the odd LEGO curiosities. So there's plenty of ways to spend you hard earned money.
The Fairy Bricks Tombola is by now an integrated part of the event and it would be odd and wrong not to have Kev and Andy there with their "way" of engaging with the AFOL Community and event visitors (all in a good and joyful way). Plus the minifigures they have in their tombola are quite interesting and even sometimes cheaper than buying them on the second hand market.
This year also saw the BrickLink team visiting the event, displaying the AFOL Designer Program models, doing presentations on the AFOL Designer Program and BrickLink Studio. Great team which really took the time to talk to the AFOL Community and they got a lot of great feedback both on Studio and the AFOL Designer Program.
As usual the MOCs were pretty awesome (aren't they always when done by the AFOL Community?). And I did my best to take photos. Below are the photos I took, that came out "alright". My deepest apologies if I missed your MOC - it's not excluded, I just didn't get to take photos of everything and sometimes I put my fingers in front of the camera. I am sorry - it's nothing personal, it's just me being clumsy or out of time.
On Saturday night we had the AFOL Dinner with the Town Council members participating as well as representative from LEGO Iberia. There's nothing like a flock (or murder) of AFOLs enjoying great food and awesome company. Thank You for being the most amazing, caring and friendly community I've ever been part of and engaging with.
Edited by Kim Ellekjær Thomsen
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