Corn dogs, carousels and LEGO? A new staple has arrived at the Pierce County Fair, Topher’s Brick Emporium, a one-stop shop for new, used, retired and popular LEGO sets.

“A lot of the sets that we carry are going to be retired stuff, so it’s not just stuff you can go to Walmart and buy anymore,” Christopher Wilson said.

On top of all that, Patrick Durham, a fan-favorite from Team Grandpappies on season three of popular show “LEGO Masters,” will be spending all four days at the fair.

Christopher Wilson, hence the name Topher, and his wife Courtney had an emotional journey to get to where they are today, but they are now living the dream distributing LEGO.

The two went through years of struggling with infertility, experiencing eight miscarriages. They began to explore adoption options, saving money to go through the process. In an effort to raise money, Chris began to sell his LEGO that he had collected over the years. When he started getting down to only the sets and pieces that he wanted to keep, he realized that he had learned a lot about the process as a whole.

“I discovered some things about the LEGO market, buying and selling, as I was doing this. I started buying while I was selling. Within like three months, we had our entire house full. Kitchen was shipping and receiving, the living room was parts, the dining room was sets,” Wilson said. “We had to build a shed to move it out of the house because we needed our home back.”

Then, Courtney’s ninth pregnancy went full-term, welcoming a baby girl home in 2022. Topher then decided to fully pursue the LEGO business. He cashed in his retirement to go straight into funding the Brick Emporium.

“I couldn’t go back to work to give 70% of my paycheck to a stranger to raise the child that we fought for for 10 years,” Wilson said. “I asked my wife to trust me.”

They have now been up and running for four and a half years and are the proud parents of three daughters.

“I found a way to turn my passion into another income source,” Wilson said. “A career that gives me the option to spend as much time with my family as I choose to.”

They travel to many events and conventions, largely in the Midwest, but they do branch out even further. The Pierce County Fair made perfect sense because the two are both from the area. Courtney grew up in Rock Falls, and Topher attended River Falls High School.

There is also an online store to purchase bricks, minifigures and sets, with a part store of 500,000 pieces at tophersbrickemporium.com.

It was at their first convention in the Twin Cities where they met Durham, who was in one of his own first conventions.

“We just kind of wound up hitting it off,” Wilson said. “We told him what we were doing [at the Pierce County Fair] and he got super excited.”

“I’m the honorary grandad of that family,” Durham said. “I’m sure that they are going to spoil me rotten.”

At 80 years old from Knoxville, Tenn., Durham was later to the game than most on LEGO, but he has now found a hobby for life. He gave his son lots of LEGO when he was young, but the interest started to fade as he got older.

“When he got to that certain age, he lost interest in it and put away all his LEGO,” Durham said. “When he was cleaning out the room that he used to stay in because he was moving out, he threw all of it away and I ignored LEGO for all that time.”

Durham has always been a massive “Star Wars” fan, and in December 2017 he gifted himself a BB-8 LEGO set. Then he started acquiring some small sets and joined a local group in Tennessee. Durham went to his first show in 2018.
“It was the first time I saw any big, large creations,” Durham said. “The things that I made to take to the show weren’t big like that. They were just regular sized things. They were pretty good, but I said that’s the trick, I’ll build big.”

That inspired Durham to build Mustafar, the “Star Wars” location that is known for the iconic duel in the lava between Anakin and Obi Wan. He kept adding and adding to his build until it reached 130,000 pieces. He took the display to a show in Washington D.C. where he met some of the contestants from season two of “LEGO Masters.”

“The first LEGO Masters came out, and I said, ‘Man, I’d love to do that, but I don’t think I’m that great. That’s above my paygrade,’” Durham said. “Second season came out and I said, ‘Patrick, you’re dreaming too big buddy, just let it go.”

Durham tried to spark up an Instagram account, and when he reached 200 followers, he received an email to check his Instagram messages.

“Please quit with the spam,” was the first thought to cross Durham’s mind.

After about 10 emails, Durham finally checked the message to see his “LEGO Masters” dream come true.

“My knees buckled,” Durham said.

The show was looking for a team of grandads, and Durham knew just who to ask, adding fellow fan-favorite Kerry Woo to the team.

“Guess what my friend, we’re going to be on season three of LEGO Masters,” Durham said.

“My team ended up being fan-favorites of season three. Nobody liked it when they sent us home,” Durham said of his episode three elimination. “It’s a reality show, we know things like that are going to happen.”

Durham is a LEGO brick millionaire, with a house full of LEGO pieces. He has built a Darth Vader’s Castle that is so tall on a tabletop that he could barely reach the top. The base was five feet by five feet. Durham, a retired DJ, will be at Topher’s Brick Emporium during the fair, and he will also be doing events each day at the Seyforth Building, allowing attendees to stop by and create their own build.

“I still build and I’ll probably always build. I’m a Star Wars guy, but more than that I’m a LEGO guy,” Durham said.

Topher’s Brick Emporium is located near the grandstand and will be waving large LEGO flags to make them easier to find.