Kids create LEGO menorah to mark Hanukkah

Veronika Fogel had no problem finding her contribution to the 8-foot tall LEGO menorah.

"I built the part of the base that has LEGOs with eyes on them," the 11-year-old Aurora girl said. "When I saw them in the pile I decided it would be funny to use them."

Fogel was among several dozen area Jewish children who helped construct the base of the structure Sunday. Chabad of Naperville organized the event that was held in the food court of Aurora's Westfield Fox Valley Mall. They also built the portion of the menorah that holds the candles instead of relying on the youngsters.

"This is the first time we've done this," said Rabbi Mendy Goldstein. "There were certain parts of the menorah we knew the kids could take care of and the other parts we did in advance."

Naperville's 5-year-old Tyler Mathews had a harder time spotting the portion of the base he helped build.

"It's kind of in the middle, I think," he said. "It was kind of wobbly when I finished so I pushed down on it real hard to make it stick."

Tyler's father, Bill, said Sunday's event had been on the family's radar all week. His 4-year-old daughter Brooke and his wife, Stephanie, busied themselves making an edible menorah out of pretzels, candy corn, licorice and marshmallow Fluff while he supervised his son's LEGO construction.

"This has been a lot of fun for them," he said. "This turned out really well and I'm really happy to see so many people show up."

Goldstein said about 100 people were expected at Sunday's event. One of those was Naperville Mayor George Pradel, who showed up to read a proclamation extolling the importance of the event.

Goldstein's wife, Alta, said the event was mainly held to get families together for the holiday.

"This kind of event attracts so many kids and it's amazing to see so many new faces," she said. "We just wanted the kids to have their own party where they can be happy together."