When LEGO Grows Up
Inside North Texas’ adult LEGO community — & why more grown-ups are clicking bricks again
By Sonia Duggan
A building toy invented nearly a century ago remains relevant today, having grown up alongside its users.
LEGO, best known for its interlocking plastic bricks, is no longer confined to playroom floors. It fills spare bedrooms, home offices and display tables, evolving into a creative outlet embraced by adults who never truly outgrew it — or, in some cases, discovered it for the first time later in life.
In North Texas, that community takes shape through the DFW LEGO User Group, known as DFW LUG — a LEGO-recognized adult fan group that gathers builders from across the region. The
group meets regularly, collaborates on large-scale projects and brings its creations into public spaces, where thousands of people can experience them up close.
John Daugherty, ambassador for DFW LUG, welcomes the diversity and sense of connection within the group. Members range from artists
to engineers, accountants to college students, and longtime collectors to new or returning adult builders.
“I love it because everybody’s from different backgrounds,” he said. “And we all can get together and unite over our love of LEGO. In a world where everyone disagrees about everything, it’s just great to have some common ground.”
Each December, the group transforms part of the Farmersville Heritage Museum into a moving winter scene during the Holiday LEGO Trains and Winter Village exhibit. Trains circle the room, weaving past storefronts, bridges and tiny details that reward careful viewing. For the fourth consecutive year, the group was invited by museum board chair Misty Wiebold to return — and each year, the display grows.
Among this year’s standout features was a suspended LEGO bridge made from more than 17,000 pieces, designed and built by Princeton resident Adrian Lewis, a recent mechanical engineering graduate known within the group as “The Bridge Man.”
Nearby, Daugherty showcased replicas of several downtown Farmersville buildings, built using reference photos and pieces from his own collection — including red brick elements that echoed the town square’s distinctive streets.
“I started with one building because I happened to have the right color bricks,” he said. “Then I realized I could do the one next door. Now I’m hoping we can eventually build the whole block.”
Long live LEGO
LEGO began in 1932, when Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Kristiansen started making wooden toys. Two years later, he named the company LEGO, from the Danish phrase leg godt, meaning “play well.” Plastic interlocking bricks followed in 1949, forever changing how children — and eventually adults — played. By 1999, LEGO had been named “Toy of the Century.”
In its most recent full-year report, the LEGO Group said revenue grew 13 percent in 2024, driven by strong demand across its broad portfolio — including the fast-growing “kidult” market of older teens and adults. Consumer sales rose 12 percent, while the company continued to gain market share and outperform a slightly declining global toy market.
The company’s 2024 lineup was its largest ever, featuring 840 products designed for builders of all ages and interests. Bestselling themes blended classic LEGO lines with popular entertainment franchises, including LEGO City, LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Technic, LEGO Icons and LEGO Harry Potter. LEGO also expanded its Botanical Collection, which attracted new adult builders and proved especially popular for gifting.
For decades, LEGO marketed almost exclusively to children. That changed as adult fans began returning — or arriving for the first time.
Within the LEGO community, there’s a phrase for the years when bricks are set aside: the “dark ages.” For some builders, that break lasts decades. For others, LEGO never really disappears.
Bring on the Bricks
Daugherty’s own path into the hobby looks different from many. A certified public accountant by day, he didn’t discover LEGO until adulthood, when he wandered into Bricks & Minifigs in Plano in 2016 and spotted a used Ferris wheel set.
“I love Ferris wheels,” he said. “That was really my gateway.”
The following year, LEGO released the Disney Castle set — a turning point for Daugherty, a self-described Disney fan.
What began as a casual interest quickly evolved into a creative outlet, and eventually into leadership within DFW LUG.
By 2020, Daugherty had joined the group — founded in 2014 — and soon after became its ambassador. During the pandemic, he built a sprawling Disney-inspired display using roughly 60,000 LEGO pieces.
“It gave me something to keep my mind busy during all the craziness of that time,” he said.
A video of the build went viral, landing him an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show and a $5,000 haul of LEGO sets.
Today, Daugherty estimates he spends about 10 hours a week on LEGO-related activities, including building, content creation and ambassador duties. He shares builds through his “JWD Building Fun” channels on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
While Daugherty’s story reflects one entry point into adult LEGO fandom, others have never truly left the bricks behind.
That lifelong connection is embodied by DFW LUG member Lucille Powell, who has been part of the group for three years and regularly participates in meetings and public displays. For Powell, LEGO is not a rediscovered hobby — it’s one that has followed her through most of her life.
Her earliest memories date back to the late 1950s and early 1960s, when her family was stationed in Germany while her father served in the U.S. Air Force.
“We lived off base our first year, and there were a few little neighborhood stores,” Powell said. “In my five-year-old mind, one of them was a toy store.”
On payday, Powell recalled, her father would give each of the older children an American quarter — worth about four Deutsche Marks at the time. Three of the siblings would usually spend it on a small box of LEGO bricks, each containing 25 identical pieces in the same shape and color.
“When we came back to the States, we had a 55-gallon drum barrel full of LEGO,” she said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t arrive with our other belongings. But basically, I’ve been playing with LEGO for over 65 years.”
Those early experiences help explain why Powell gravitates toward trains — a centerpiece of the group’s annual Farmersville display.
“When we lived in Germany, we’d build a little village, and my dad would get his trains out and put them around the Christmas tree,” she said. “So trains really bring back those memories for me.”
Powell, who is fully retired, spent much of her career working in electronic assembly before transitioning into customer service. The work, she said, often mirrored the same skills she now uses when building with LEGO.
“It was kind of like building LEGO,” she said. “Just in a different form.”
Her presence within DFW LUG also brings a perspective that remains less common in many hobby spaces. While the LEGO world has historically skewed male, Powell attributes that more to early marketing than to interest or ability.
“It was originally promoted for boys,” she said. “But LEGO is LEGO. It’s good for everyone.”
She has watched opportunities for women in the LEGO community expand, both locally and online, including spaces such as Ladies LEGO Lounge, a Facebook group created exclusively for women builders.
Collaborative Community
Within DFW LUG, those differences in background, age and experience are part of what keeps the group thriving.
The organization functions as both a social club and a creative collective. Members typically gather twice a month, including a casual Saturday morning social on the first Saturday of each month at 9 a.m. in the Stonebriar Centre food court in Frisco. Builders bring sets or works-in-progress, talk through techniques, and often head to the LEGO store together afterward. Larger monthly meetings rotate locations across North Texas.
Beyond meetings, the group collaborates on large-scale projects and public displays throughout the region. One of the most anticipated events is Brick Rodeo, billed as the largest family-friendly LEGO convention in Texas. This year’s event runs July 23–26 in Austin and fills a ballroom with original creations ranging from cityscapes and landscapes to fantasy worlds and mechanical builds.
“It’s just wall-to-wall creativity,” Daugherty said.
Friendly competition also plays a role. The DFW LUG Masters Challenge invites members to build original creations based on weekly parameters, submit photos and vote on winners. Inspired by fellow member John Walls, who appeared on FOX’s LEGO Masters, the challenge encourages experimentation and shared learning more than prizes.
Members also collaborate on LEGO-approved projects that extend beyond display. One upcoming build, titled Jazz Age, will recreate a 1920s-era cityscape complete with elevated trains, period vehicles and architecture inspired by New York and Chicago. Other projects focus on mazes and coastal landscapes, with an emphasis on teaching building techniques and design concepts.
“LEGO wants us helping get bricks into people’s hands,” Daugherty said. “And using them to teach.”
Like many adult builders, DFW LUG members approach the hobby in different ways. Some chase new releases the day they hit store shelves. Others hunt for sales or retired sets. Storage solutions vary just as widely.
“Half my master bedroom is LEGO,” Daugherty said. “That’s how I know my wife loves me.”
Some builders keep original boxes. Others rotate displays and dust regularly. There is no single “right” way — only the understanding that LEGO collecting, like LEGO building, evolves over time.
For adults curious about picking LEGO back up, Daugherty’s advice is simple: start with community.
“Come to one of our Saturday socials,” he said. “We’d love to talk to you and help you get plugged back in.”
That invitation reflects a broader truth about LEGO’s resurgence. While the bricks haven’t changed much in 70 years, the reasons adults return to them have. LEGO offers creativity without screens, structure without pressure, and connection in a time when shared experiences can feel rare.
Or, as one fan put it in a Worldwide Adult Fans of LEGO Facebook group with more than 217,000 members: “I feel like LEGO grew up with me.”
For Daugherty and DFW LUG, that growth is something worth celebrating—one brick at a time.