An overview of Fairfax County in Lego form is now on display at Tysons Corner Center.
The installation crafted by the Northern Virginia Lego User Group (NOVA-LUG) was unveiled at the mall near its future Dick’s House of Sport store Wednesday (July 22) as part of the county’s ongoing 250th anniversary celebrations.
Expected to stick around into January 2027, the display features custom builds of notable landmarks across the county, from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly to Great Falls Park, as well as more everyday scenes, such as people playing pickleball, cycling on the Washington & Old Dominion Trail or enjoying a drink at Bunnyman Brewing.
“What is fantastic is they have pieces representing all nine districts, so when people see this, they see the array of attractions we have for residents and visitors,” Visit Fairfax President and CEO Barry Biggar told FFXnow. “So, this is a magical piece not only related to the history [of the county], but also related to the amazing opportunities this county has for visitors.”
Over the past year, Visit Fairfax, the county’s official tourism marketing organization, has been working with the Fairfax County 250th Commission convened by the Board of Supervisors in 2021 to organize and promote programs commemorating the U.S.’s semiquincentennial.
While discussing potential projects, organizers asked a member of NOVA-LUG who had collaborated with the county before if the Lego enthusiasts’ group would be interested in building a display for the 250th festivities, according to NOVA-LUG President Tanner Johnson.
Founded in 2024, NOVA-LUG boasts more than 35 members who participate in both casual monthly meetings and public events for families, including at local parks and libraries. The group limits paying members to adults 18 and older, but 16 and 17-year-olds can also join as associate members, and it’s not uncommon for members to bring their kids to meetings.
Johnson, who served as a coordinator on the project with fellow member Ben Rome, says work on the 250 display officially began in March. The county provided suggestions for sites to include with the request that at least one from each of its nine magisterial districts be featured, but builders were otherwise given plenty of latitude to follow their creative instincts.
“I think there’s even one or two of the landmarks we chose to build that wasn’t on that original list, but we took back to them and said, ‘Hey, we had this idea, is that appropriate?’ And they approved all those requests,” Johnson said, pointing to Grist Mill Park in Mount Vernon as an example.
When looking at venues to host the display, organizers saw Tysons Corner Center as an obvious choice. The mall draws over 20 million visitors a year, making it one of the most frequently visited places in the county, according to Biggar.
Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik, who represents most of Tysons, noted that mall owner Macerich has long been “a great partner” with the county on community events and public art projects. She was particularly excited by the inclusion of the Historic Fairfax Courthouse as a reminder that the county has “a lot of history, not just in Mount Vernon.”
“I think it’s a great way to both educate [people] and get some excitement about what it means to have lived through 250 years of our nation and to see it in a place that sees millions of tourists and visitors every single years,” Palchik said.
Over the coming months, NOVA-LUG will update the smaller scenes in the display to reflect seasonal changes and holidays, giving repeat visitors a chance to see something new.
According to Johnson, the team hopes to add different types of housing seen throughout the county, including historic homes, and then add decorations for Halloween or Christmas.
“We’ll do a lot of those micro-adjustments to really show and celebrate life in the county and the holiday season and make it a very present and timely display throughout the year,” he said.
There are no solid plans yet for what to do with the display once its stay at Tysons Corner Center ends in January, though some county supervisors have asked the builders about finding permanent homes for the landmarks tied to their districts.
Palchik says she would love to see the installation make a stop at the Fairfax County Government Center “to show our pride for Fairfax.”
For now, Johnson is simply excited for shoppers to see NOVA-LUG’s work, describing the collaboration with Visit Fairfax and the 250th Commission as an extension of the group’s efforts to promote community and creativity.
“We want to encourage everybody, at whatever age, to find the different things that are meaningful to them and allow them to continue playing and exercising that creativity,” he said. “So, when we got the invitation to work with the county, we were excited to use this as a medium to extend that message even wider and really invite people to participate in whatever way they can to be creative, build art, build good things and put goodness into the world.”
