
Yost, who estimates he owns about 1 million Lego pieces, made two trips to the Ozark Empire Fair on Wednesday just to bring all of the supplies he needed to create the exhibit.
Signs have been placed on the E-Plex’s doors to let people know the “Lego Man” is in the center hall. Yost said people lined up to look at the exhibit, and he tried to greet everyone as they watched him add details and attractions to the display. Yost said the most common question people asked him so far was, “Did you really build this?”
Lego pieces cover three 6-foot tables. The Route 66 highway, also made of Lego pieces, begins in Chicago. Signs mark the Mother Road’s path as it travels past Illinois farmland, over the Mississippi River, by the St. Louis Arch and into Springfield.
In Springfield, Yost re-created Bud’s Tire & Wheel — a Route 66 attraction at the corner of Grant Avenue and College Street.
Yost said he thinks that Route 66 has a “charm” that draws in a lot of interest, and he has heard a lot of stories from folks who have traveled the historic highway.
“Everybody from around here, at one time or another, has driven on Route 66,” he said.
One man who stopped by the exhibit told Yost that he and his late wife, who passed away Christmas morning, made annual trips down Route 66 for more than 15 years. Yost said it was an emotional moment as the man recalled the memories from his experiences on the highway.
The road continues into Oklahoma where Yost added a Lego model of The Blue Whale of Catoosa, a historic swimming hole, which has sparked a lot comments from fair-goers who wanted to know what and where the whale was.
Yost also included the Cadillac Ranch and the Wigwam Motel. He said even though the cars he used aren’t exact replicas of Cadillacs, people understand what they represent, and he tries to make everything look at realistic as possible.
Yost worked to create the Grand Canyon on Monday and predicted he would have the historic highway completed by this afternoon.
Shannon Coles of Nixa said she happened to see a sign about the Lego Man, so she decided to see what it was about. Coles said it was a neat exhibit, and she doesn’t think she has seen anything like it before.
“I never made anything like that with my Legos when I was a kid.”