ENFIELD, Conn. -- The balloons descended at 1:58 p.m. at LEGO headquarters in Enfield, marking the small block's 50th birthday.

Channel 3 Eyewitness News reporter Dan Kain reported the company employs 5,000 worldwide, 350 of whom work in Enfield, including model builders.

"My wife is amazed, my relatives are amazed that I actually get paid to play all day for a job," said Dan Steininger, a model builder.

Steininger said it took him about 60 hours to build a replica Scooby Doo using LEGOs.

"We glue each and every piece before we put it on," Steininger said.

The company has evolved over the years, tying the basic block to a wide range of popular interests from Star Wars to Transformers.

The company even has theme parks built around the block -- two in Europe and one in California.

Kain reported LEGO has reported almost $1½ billion in sales.

"We always have and will always have a strong following: The parents that grew up on LEGO, the grandparents that grew up on LEGO, and that whole nostalgia has a huge importance," said Soren Torp Laursen, president of LEGO Americas. "We offer something that is very different in terms of a play experience to the typical toy out there."

Over the years, the company has turned out 400 billion LEGO blocks -- enough to stretch for 611 million miles.

The president of the company said he always wears shoes at work because it sure hurts to step on a LEGO block.