Young participants dive into the pile of LEGOs available for free play Saturday, Jan. 16, During LEGO-rama ’10 at the Coeur d’Alene Public Library.

Nearly 300 people filled the Community Room at the Coeur d’Alene Public Library Saturday, Jan. 16, for the fifth annual LEGO-rama program.

About 150 designs were entered in the competition portion of the program that also included the singing of the “LEGO-rama Song,” the “two-minute building” competition, and the presentation of several LEGO-themed YouTube videos.

“We made a view changes to the program this year,” said LEGO Leader David Townsend who organizes the event, “and I was very pleased with the results.”

The winners among entries in age groups 4-6, 7-10, and 11-13 were selected by a panel of four volunteer judges this year instead of having the audience voting exclusively. Each visitor and participant did receive a single ballot to determine People Choice awards. In addition the footprint, the space the entry takes up on the table, was reduced this year to 15-by-15 inches.

“We also took steps to set up the room to reduce crowding,” Townsend said. “This is one of our most popular programs – both for participants and people coming by to look at the entries – and people seemed a little less packed in this year.

“If this keeps up we may have to look at adding on to the library,” he joked.

This year’s winners were:

Ages 4-6: First, Joey Clark; second. Ethan Schwegal; third, David Nieman.

Ages 7-10: First, Evan Seibert; second Ian Fleming; third Zach Schmitt.

Ages 11-13: First, Easton Gervais; second, Richard Warner; third Phillip McDaniel.

People’s Choice: First, Easton Gervais; second, Evan Siebert; third, Matthew Robinson.

The winners were given the opportunity to display their entries in the library’s display cases until the end of January.

LEGO-rama, like all youth programs, in supported by a grant from the Friends of the Coeur d’Alene Public Library. This year’s event also had volunteer support from the Student Ambassadors at Lewis-Clark State College, Coeur d’Alene campus.

News about the library and other city departments is also available on the City of Coeur d’Alene news blog: http://cdacity.blogspot.com/.