Does anyone happen to know if they still have the World’s Fair? Seems to me the last time I heard about it was the early 80’s somewhere in Tennessee. Did they stop running it? When?
Or, If it’s still going, where is it held(i.e., does it still move from year to year)?
Just Curious
Chris W
2005 - Seto, Japan - Seto, Japan in Aichi Prefecture will host Expo 2005, the next world’s fair officially sanctioned by the Bureau International des Expositions. Over 100 participants have already signed up.
2007 - One Bid
2008 - Two Bids
The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) has currently received bids from Thessaloki, Greece for 2008, Trieste, Italy for 2007, and Zaragoza, Spain for 2008.
Additionally, Phoenix, Arizona, USA may host a non-BIE sanctioned exposition during 2008. A Phoenix world’s fair would most likely be held during non-summer months given Arizona’s harsh summer climate. The Rio Selado Community Development Foundation is proposing this exposition with the hope of creating a legacy site with museums, a biotechnology center, and facilities for the state’s university system.
Bids were also considered in other cities (Taiwan; Ottawa, Canada; Abu Dhabi, UAE; Athens, Greece; Atlanta, USA; El Paso, USA; Oklahoma City/Tulsa, USA; and San Francisco, USA) for 2007 or 2008 but no additional information has become available and it assumed that there will be no bids submitted to the BIE from these cities.
2010 - Shanghai, China - The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), on 03 December 2002, announced that Shanghai will host Expo 2010. The world’s fair will be held just 2 years after Beijing will host the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Source: http://expomuseum.com/future/
A few years ago my son was spending a year in Hanover Germany as an exchange student. The “Worlds Fair”, more commonly known as “Expo” in the rest of the world, was held there.
According to my son, Germany reserved a large area for the US pavillion adjacent to the German pavillion. Apparently being placed next to the host country is a position of honor. At the last minute, we pulled out (claiming lack of funding iirc) leaving a large hole in the exhibit space. The Germans had to scramble to fill the space with other countries. According to my son, the US’s decision was not well received among the world community
I always felt sad, growing up in Flushing, NY, that my grandparents (in 1939) and my parents (in 1964) all got to go to a world’s fair as kids, but that in 1989 the trend would be broken and I’d just never get to go to one. Sigh.
My aunt took my brother and me to three World’s Fairs in a row – 1982 in Knoxville, 1984 in New Orleans, and 1986 in Vancouver. I had reindeer meat for the first time in Vancouver.
And I think I appreciated that “Wigsphere” joke in that Simpsons episode more than most.
Never got to go to a World’s Fair, but since I grew up in the Detroit area I became quite familiar with a certain artifact from the 64-65 NY Fair.
That would be the “World’s Biggest Tire,” which was a ferris wheel at the Fair and now is simply a very large advertisement for Uniroyal tires. It has been standing alongside Interstate 94 in the suburb of Allen Park since just after the fair ended in 1965. When Uniroyal introduced the “nail guard” tires a few years ago, the Big Tire had a Big Nail added to it.
All in all, it is quite a bizarre piece of corporate Pop Art, and one wonders what people several centuries from now will make of an 80 foot automobile tire.
They still have World’s Fairs but you are right about how they no longer get as much public attention as they used to.
I think I’ve been to only one World’s Fair–1974 in Spokane, Washington (my hometown). I say “think” because there doesn’t seem to be anyone outside of Spokane County who believes this actually happened. A PBS documentary on American World’s Fairs didn’t mention the fair once and, when the 1986 World’s Fair in Vancouver took place, it was promoted as “the second World’s Fair in the Pacific Northwest” (the other being Seattle in 1962). In fact, I’m now beginning to believe that sometime around 1974, some disgruntled person laced the city’s water supply with LSD and that the people of Spokane (being somewhat prosaic souls) mass hallucinated the whole World’s Fair.
Well, after you check out this site, you can e-mail Mike Fuller and share your theory with him.
Some of the exhibits from 1964-65 are still around, most notably the Carousel of Progress, which is currently in Disney World in Orlando. However, nowadays the stage moves, not the audience.
Also, in Disneyland (Anaheim), Small World, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln (he gives a different speech now) and Primeval World (on the train that circles the park).
BTW, I believe the audience still circles the stages in the Carousel of Progress in Orlando.
I attended the '82 World’s Fair in Knoxville, though I have only vague memories of it raining like hell the whole time we were there, and some stupid superball I bought there for $1.50.
When I saw the thread title, though, my first thought was:
All alone at the '64 World’s Fair
80 dolls yelling “Small girl after all”
Who was at the DuPont pavilion?
Why was the bench still warm?
Who had been there?
Hope I’m not alone in this…
I lived in Seattle 1961/63 an went to the fair several times so I know that one really took place;)
How were the deep-fried brains on a stick?
Joe
Missing yours?
Welcome to the dope, Maxine.
Since this thread was started seven years ago, it’s what we call a ‘zombie’, hence the brains remark.
Also, exhibitions that run for more than one calendar year aren’t sanctioned by the Bureau International des Expositions, so the 64-65 New York Worlds Fair wasn’t really one. Did Portland’s run for more than one year?
The reference is that you revived what we call a zombie thread. Zombies in movies lurch around looking for brains. It’s somewhat customary to greet a zombie thread with a brain reference.
And your answer might be viewed as an insult which is frowned upon outside the Pit.
I was refering to the 1962 fair in Seattle.
It was advertised as a World’s fair, but I don’t think it was, really.
I don’t have a clue about the one in Portland.
Welcome to the SDMB, Maxine37. I recommend that you take a few minutes to read the rules and guidelinesfor posting here, so you’ll be familiar with guidelines on reviving long-inactive threads (it’s not against the rules, but it’s also not ideal) – and the rules against being rude to people outside of the forum called the Pit.
For now, I’m going to leave this thread open, in case people have anything they want to say that’s on topic.
twickster, Cafe Society moderator
It was, of course. Wikipedia has a list of every world exposition sanctioned by the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE).
U.S. Fairs were:
Philadelphia, 1876
Chicago 1893
Buffalo, 1901
St. Louis, 1904
San Francisco, 1915
Chicago, 1933
New York City, 1939-40
Seattle, 1962
New York City, 1964-65
San Antonio, 1968
Spokane, 1974
Knoxville, 1982
New Orleans, 1984
I went to the New York World’s Fair of 1964 (which was not officially sanctioned). Actually, I went several times, since it was only a couple of hours away. Liked the Ford and GM pavilion, as well as the GE Carousel of Progress (which was moved down to Disney World in Orlando, where they changed it – originally, the audience was on a giant merry-go-round, which went from one section to another; the Orlando version just has a revolving stage). Saw the Pieta – you stood on a conveyor belt and went by. Also I was impressed with the Equitable Life pavilion with a running count of US population.
I also was at Expo 67 in Montreal. We got there they day before it became mobbed (the first few weeks were slow, then the crowds hit), so we saw the big attractions without long lines. I remember the US Pavilion (Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome), the West German (a giant tent), Habitat, and Mauritius (because I had never heard of the county before).