A love for Legos and a passion for creativity helped bring Old Town Manassas to life in miniature form, thanks to the efforts of 15-year-old Stephen Wentland and 16-year-old Joshua Pinney.
Their intricate recreation of the city’s Center and Main streets is now on display at the Manassas Museum through early January.
The project began at BrickFair Fredericksburg, where Stephen and Joshua showcased a city built entirely from their imaginations — but included a Lego replica of Kerbobble Toys in Manassas. “I went to the owner of Kerbobble and said, ‘Hey, I don’t know if you saw it, but I’m the kid who made that,’ and he said, ‘You made my wife cry. We really appreciate it,’” Stephen recalls. “He said we should keep going, so we decided to make the whole city.”
The boys spent a year meticulously building the display, which originally featured more than 30,000 Lego bricks and 200 hours of teamwork. The exhibit first captured attention at BrickFair Dulles in August, where it drew excited crowds of locals, including a Manassas firefighter who recognized the truck he drives in the miniature streetscape.
“This gal came up to me and said, ‘Hey, this should be in Old Town,’” explains Lisandrea Wentland, Stephen’s mother. She credits Mary Helen Dellinger of the Manassas Museum with making the exhibit possible. “She had the boys come over and showed them the display cases. Their greatest concern was people walking off with the figures or any part of the build, so Mary Helen was able to assure us that nothing would happen under her watch.”
While the project has been a labor of love, its creators are ready to move on to new challenges. “Right now, we’re not interested in any future builds,” Stephen says. “We’re very multi-hobbied people, Joshua and I, so it’s hard for us to just stick with one thing.”
The display serves as a testament to Stephen and Joshua’s dedication and creativity. “They’ve been building their whole lives,” Lisandrea says. “This has been a really neat project, but I think, in the end, they’re ready to move on to some other bigger things.”
Manassas Museum is located at 9101 Prince William St., Manassas.
Feature image courtesy Thad Pinney
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