The lowly beaver has strong roots to Canadian history, and over time, the world’s second-largest rodent has established itself firmly as the national animal, and one fo the most prominent symbols for Canada. How fitting that Jason Alleman of JK Brickworks and ParLUGment decided to pay tribute to Canada by building a mechanized version of the beaver, complete with chomping teeth and smacking tail.
Canada’s 150th anniversary has brought out a strong sense of patriotism across the country, but long before this recent surge of patriotism, Stompin’ Tom Connors was singing proudly of Canadian history, heritage and folklore. Though never famous beyond the Canadian border, Tom’s songs featured obscure legends and tidbits of Canadiana inspired by his journeys playing in bars and music halls across the country. Amongst his most famous of works are The Hockey Song, Sudbury Saturday Night and Bud the Spud. Graeme Dymond of ToroLUG (that is to say, I the author of this blog) built this based upon my childhood love of the song, which was the beginning of a love of the rest of Stompin’ Tom’s hits, and ultimately, to a love of Canadian history and regional folklore. Although the song leaves it somewhat ambiguous whether Bud the Spud is a human trucker, child-me always interpreted the lyric to mean that Bud was a human trucker or an actual, anthropomorphic potato – which perhaps was a little dark, seeing as he was also driving a truck full of other potatoes – and so I built the model to reflect that interpretation.
Continue reading “It’s Bud the Spud from the Bright Red Mud”
One of the most prominent modern structure in Canada, the CN Tower is the tallest tower in the western hemisphere, and at over 553 meters, currently stands as the 9th largest structure in the world. Completed on June 26, 1976, the tower’s notoriety has grown over the years as it has established itself as a significant tourist landmark and icon of not just the city of Toronto, but for the entire nation. Chris Abrams of MBLUG in Manitoba has put together this whopper of a LEGO model, standing at over 2 meters tall – a size that only seems small in comparison to the real tower itself.
There are many foods that define Canada, though few are as well known and iconic as the poutine. Depicted here in a traditional format of fries, topped with cheese curds and smothered in gravy, Robert Turner of ParLUGment has done a delicious job bringing this dish to life in LEGO bricks.
— King Edward VIII referring to the memorial during his 1936 speech
The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is one of only two Canadian National Historic sites located outside of Canada, and is situated at the most storied battlefield in Canadian military history. As such, it is a fitting subject for recognition as part of Canada’s history in LEGO. John Koob and Chris Gray of NALUG spent over 3000 hours to complete their model over a span of 5 years, incorporating over 150000 LEGO parts.
There are few Canadian pastimes more popular than heading down to a local arena, skating rink, or frozen body of water, and slapping on a pair of skates (or ‘ice skates’ as they are known to non-Canadians). Julie vanderMeulen of ToroLUG shows she has all the right moves) and all the right LEGO pieces) to put together these awesome blades of steel. The details on the laces and the blades are amazing, and the shaping of the whole foot itself is nothing short of remarkable.
Do not let the relatively modern exterior of the Pointe-à-Callière Museum in Montréal fool you – for inside is one of the greatest archaeological history museum’s in all of Canada. Not only renowned for it’s artifacts, the facade envelopes an interior of integrated historic buildings and landmarks. All of these elements combined is what drew Sébastien Bouthillette (Cbast, from Quebec’s QuéLUG) to bring this to life in LEGO bricks.
Though not necessarily true everywhere in Canada, one iconic staple of Canadian food culture is that milk is often packaged and sold in bags. Matthew Sklar (sklar) has built a bag of milk in a milk jug, complete with some other very iconic Canadian cuisine – a box of Kraft Dinner instant macaroni and cheese, as well as a large stick of butter.
Canada Builds 150 