Looking for something your children are sure to enjoy this holiday season? Keep Building Jackson’s Lego display is back and bigger than ever. You can see the Capital City at its absolute best at the Arts Center of Mississippi on East Pascagoula Street.
Even a fast model train takes a while to make it around this massive albeit miniature version of the Capital City. Clocking in at somewhere North of a quarter of a million blocks, the display takes Dr. Scott Crawford a month to assemble.
Dr. Crawford says, “We’ve got a brand new Lego roller coaster that actually functions. We’ve got an even bigger wind turbine that functions. We’ve got some new super heroes. We’ve got Black Panther. Let’s see what else. We’ve got a downtown diner in Fondren. So, that’s what’s new this year.”
Some familiar games are back.
Dr. Crawford explains, “Characters are placed, hidden in plain sight in the middle of the display and you can go around and try to find them.”
But as always, Dr. Crawford cautions, “Just look, but don’t touch.”
Dr. Crawford believes that to make something happen, you need to imagine it happening, first. This is Jackson as it could be.
He says, “Everyone gets to know their neighbor. Everyone has a beautiful place to live.”
The exhibit is also Dr. Crawford’s metaphor for living with multiple sclerosis.
He says, m.s. took away a lot of my abilities, but I had to rebuild a meaningful life using ‘fewer bricks’ than I used to have, so it takes creativity and willingness to rebuild using what you have left.”
What Keep Building Jackson has left it nothing short of magnificent.
You can see for yourself Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. The display will stay up at the Arts Center of Mississippi until January 12.
Dr. Crawford would love to find a sponsor to put his display under glass, and give it a permanent home. That way, we could enjoy it all year ’round.
