Construct huge castles out of cardboard ‘Legos’ in the park this Saturday!

Cardboard Castles may not have has many sick beats as Crystal Castles, but one thing it does have is something rad happening this weekend to fulfill pretty much every childhood fantasy you’ve ever had:

Hundreds of cardboard boxes have been painted to look like giant Lego pieces and strategically covered with velcro. At 12 PM in Dolores Park on September 29th, you can build anything you can possibly imagine with them.

The event will be free and open to the public, and will last until people get bored (never) or the authorities intervene!

Or until the gutter punks hold a mosh pit inside one!  But seriously, this sounds like a pretty awesome way to spend an Indian summer Saturday and you can find out more about the project here.

Don’t forget to RSVP and invite your friends!

[Photo of a bunch of amateurs--Saturday will be way cooler!]

20 Responses to “Construct huge castles out of cardboard ‘Legos’ in the park this Saturday!”

  1. scum says:

    I didn’t see any mention of removal of the blocks on thier site.

  2. ryan says:

    between this and the waterfight planned for sunday, that park is gonna be trashed.

  3. me says:

    my heart is beating faster and i cant wait for saturday.
    so fucking excited.

  4. P.D.Bird says:

    free and open to the public,so why RSVP?

  5. doobie says:

    I need boxes. I can haz?

  6. Olu says:

    And I think there is a block party on 18th betwn Guerrero and Dolores on saturday, so this part of the hood is going to be……

  7. getoverit says:

    Oh to be 20something years old…….and a complete loser! I guess when you have no money or real job, this can be entertaining.

    • well, as someone who has a pretty serious job, this sounds pretty fun to me.

      ah, to be a comment troll! i guess when you have no life, this can be entertaining!

      • GG says:

        I’m an attorney in my late 30s and this looks very entertaining, but thanks for demonstrating that you can be a cynical wet blanket at any age. (However, I do share the prior posters’ concerns about clean-up…)

        • la dee da says:

          It would be nice for the Mission/Dolores Park newbies to have some sort of respect for the people who have been there for years….but for 20 and apparently 30 somethings, that is too much to ask for…..and the comments prove my point perfectly…..the ‘me generation’ at its best.

  8. Pearl says:

    The negativity to this super cute idea is astounding. Why assume that the boxes won’t be cleaned up? Why act like an old grandpa instead of having fun? Why bother trashing someone else’s idea? Life is much better with a positive attitude.

    • Erik says:

      Because big, unofficial-type events in SF parks have a long and proud history leaving behind a huge mess.

      • Charlie says:

        Hi Erik,

        I’m the one behind Cardboard Castles! We’re actually trying to gather volunteers to make sure precisely that doesn’t happen. If you know or anyone else is interested in helping out with set-up, crowd-control, breakdown or clean-up, get in touch with me at chedword@gmail.com.

        I actually got a $1000 grant to make all this happen from the Awesome Foundation. If you have an equally ridiculous (but semi-feasible) idea, pitch it to them!

        Thanks a bunch, and hopefully I’ll see you tomorrow!

        Charlie

    • la dee da says:

      Because it happens all the time. Did you see the park after Labor Day or any other f*ckin weekend? It shouldn’t be applauded that the park is cleaned up, it should be expected.

  9. P.D.Bird says:

    Wait? You guys got 1,000 bucks and could not even make some real lego SHAPES. Just bunch of colored boxes.all square. I would love to see a break down of where the awesome funding was spent. Really disappointing. Should have just said sq box castle. oh well,shame on me for getting my hopes up.

  10. zizska says:

    $200 to store the boxes for two months
    $250 for primer and paint
    $250 for the boxes
    $100 for glue guns, gluesticks, caution tape, paint brushes and drop cloths
    $150 on food for the volunteers
    $50 for velcro

    we tried doing the lego style connectors on the boxes, but they weren’t very good for combining blocks and took too much time.

    the boxes themselves took two months to make – lots of weeknights and lots of pizza!

    there were actually more boxes that didn’t make it to dolores – two drivers flaked the morning of the event.

    we’re currently upgrading our box arsenal to do this again and do it better in the future. if you have ideas on how to pull off the legos, let us know! we’re looking into rectangular boxes, but square boxes were the best option for buying in bulk.

    thanks for coming yesterday, and i’m sorry if you were disappointed. it’ll be even better next time!