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The Big Build

A Hands-on Family Festival of Tools, Trucks, and Building Arts

  


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Stay tuned for more information about next year's event on Saturday, September 21, 2013. Highlights from Big Build 2012:

Fulfill your curiosities and become a builder for the day! At the Big Build you, your family, and your friends have the opportunity to work alongside experienced artisans and craftsmen as they demonstrate their skills. Talk with plumbers, electricians, ironworkers, landscape architects, conservationists, and experts in many other fields to learn about their professions and hobbies.

  • Climb aboard cranes and tractors
  • Build a brick wall
  • Construct a log cabin
  • Carve stone
  • Compete in a nail driving contest
  • Design decorative light switch plates to take home
  • Play with huge foam blocks in Imagination Playground, provided by KaBOOM!

Also, don't miss your chance to say hello to Curious George from the WETA Kids channel, who will be in attendance to learn about the building trades alongside you and your family!

Find photos from past festivals on Flickr.

Thank you to the 2012 participants: American Society of Landscape Architects; The Associated General Contractors of America; Blacksmiths' Guild of the Potomac; The Children's Science Center; Clark Construction Group, LLC; COTEdc: D.C. Committee on the Environment, American Institute of Architects; Davidson Associates, Virtual Reality Building; Jeff Di Meglio: Stone Carving; District of Columbia Association of Land Surveyors, Inc.; The Electrical Alliance and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 26; H&E Equipment Services; International Masonry Institute; International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers; Ironworker Management Progressive Action Cooperative Trust (IMACT); KaBOOM!; Lafarge; McGhee & Co: The Roof Thatchers; Metropolitan Washington Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors; Miller and Long: Concrete Construction; Natural Edge: David Robinson;  Painted Screen Society of Baltimore, Inc.;  Potomac Antique Tool and Industries Association (PATINA); Potomac Valley Brick and Supply Co.; Salavagewrights Ltd., Architectural Antiquities; Andy Seferlis: Stone Carving and Restoration; Washington Conservation Guild; Washington Woodworkers Guild; WETA Kids; TW Perry: Serving Contractors since 1911, for in-kind supplies.