Abel Drawdy, son of Layla and Dustin Drawdy, enjoys playing flag football, being a sports fanatic, and most importantly—building Legos. For 10-year-old Abel, winning Grand Champion comes easy. Since around the age of five, Abel has enjoyed putting together Lego pieces and creating fun and unique builds. He is now approaching the sixth grade and has already won Grand Champion for the Lego exhibit at the Florida Strawberry Festival, three years in a row.
If you walked into Abel’s room, you would probably be shocked to see two, six-foot shelves displaying his Lego builds. He is always making Legos and has gotten so good over the years that he completes them in no time! For the past three years at the Florida Strawberry Festival, Abel has applied for his Legos to be entered and displayed at the exhibit. Each year, he strives to create a Lego build incorporating the theme of the festival. For the 87th Festival in 2022, the theme was “#1 for FUN!” In 2021, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the Super Bowl, so Abel decided he wanted to submit a Pirate Ship Lego build. All of the Lego people were holding Buccaneer flags and number one foam fingers.
This year, the theme of the 2024 Florida Strawberry Festival was “Out of This World.” After a lot of thinking, Abel decided he would create a build of astronauts in space, featuring strawberries—of course! He was sure to add a flag with red letters reading, “Florida Strawberry Festival.” Not only was the theme of the festival out of this world, but so was his build, earning him the top prize of grand champion in his category…yet again!
Abel’s largest build consisted of 3,000 pieces and was called “Hogwarts Icon.” This is a collector’s edition with a giant owl on top. This build was recommended for ages 18 and up, yet 10-year-old Abel had no trouble putting it together in just three days. Abel will continue to submit his creations to the Florida Strawberry Festival in hopes of continuing his legacy of winning grand champion. We congratulate him on his accomplishments and wish him the best of luck in all his endeavors.