Bonanza for Lego fans also will benefit charity

Bright blue Lego roof tiles from California recently landed on his doorstep in Roswell. Another day, 1,000 white tiles for stair railings showed up, making their way from Minnesota. And then there was the package traveling all the way from Guam — a small cardboard box containing a few albeit critical brown, trunk-shaped Lego pieces for palm trees.

Nijenkamp and his son, Austin, have snapped together all of these Legos and many, many more. Brick by brick, and in the true giving spirit of the holidays, they have created a giant cityscape known as "Celebricktion." This Lego city — brought to life with 1 million Legos — will be on display Dec. 20-22 at High Meadows School in Roswell to delight Lego enthusiasts of all ages and raise money for a good cause.

The $10 admission will be a fundraiser for the Drake House in Roswell, which provides short-term crisis housing, assessment and support to homeless mothers and their children in the north Fulton area. Nijenkamp is hoping to raise close to $100,000. He said he selected this charity because he wanted to select a small organization in his community, and he supports its mission.

After the holiday fundraiser, Nijenkamp will put the creation in storage, and Nijenkamp hopes to set up the exhibit at other locations in metro Atlanta next year.

Back in June, Nijenkamp and Austin presented a smaller version in the lobby at the Aurora Cineplex in Roswell featuring about 400,000 Lego bricks, designed to be a sneak preview to this Lego masterpiece.

Nijenkamp said the Lego city is not modeled after any particular city, but pieces reflect inspiration from traveling around the globe. Austin, who designed the parks, was influenced by the neighborhood parks of Savannah. With keen attention to detail, this fun-filled city features dolphins swimming in the ocean, a Dragon Con-inspired parade and a firetruck getting ready to rescue a cat stuck in a tree. “The Lego Movie” will play in the background at the event.

Nijenkamp estimates he and his son have spent about 1,300 hours on this huge celebration of all things Lego. Austin, who is a sophomore at Georgia College & State University studying to become an urban planner, orders discontinued but critical Lego pieces and joins his father during vacations and school breaks.

Nijenkamp, 55, who owns a painting company, has built the enormous cityscape into 25 parts, or panels, including a high rise reaching 15 feet, a castle and an ocean.

As a child growing up in Holland, Nijenkamp was introduced to Lego bricks around the age of 5. His fascination with Legos fell away in his teens, but a couple of decades later, after his son, Austin, was born, Nijenkamp’s affinity for the snap-together plastic bricks was renewed — and “got out of control.”

At the Nijenkamps’ Roswell home, a former large bedroom was transformed into a Lego room now awash with 3 million Legos. He spends up to 30 hours a week with Legos — building, organizing, dreaming up ideas.

Inside the highly organized Lego room, Legos are sorted by shape and color. Large plastic bins have wheels to make them easier to move around. Some of the labeled drawers have only a handful of specific Lego pieces — including one for chickens and turkeys, another one for birds and pigs, and yet another one for nacho cheese.

Even with so many Legos, he can still come up short. He needed a few thousand blue Lego tiles to complete the ocean, which required a whopping 30,000 pieces.

Nijenkamp said his wife, Kristy, a glass jewelry maker, is supportive but doesn’t share his love for Legos. Their daughter, Nikole, builds with Legos from time to time, but is also not a Lego aficionado.

Clad in blue jeans and a sky blue shirt, Nijenkamp escaped into the Lego room on a recent morning when he had a few minutes of free time, and as he put the finishing touches on the project, he decided to grab clear Lego pieces to build a waterfall where the ocean meets a creek at a Japanese garden.

“I think my favorite part is when you are building something, you are creating something in your mind and the challenge is to make it as real as possible,” he said. “It’s like when people have a drawing or a picture or plans, but we don’t have that. We dream it up.”