# World's fairs you've been to. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 18, 2016, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-fairs-youve-been-to/755081 "2016-05-18T13:37:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-fairs-youve-been-to/755081/1 "2016-05-18T13:37:01Z")
Years ago, a world’s fair was a big deal; now, they don’t get much notice outside of the country organizing it. I’m wondering who has been to one or two, and what memories you have. For me, I’ve been to two: New York (1964-65) and Montreat (1967) New York was a two-hour drive from my house, so I went several times. I remember the Ford exhibit (where they used actual cars), GE’s/Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress (at the fair, the seats revolved like a carousel; the current version has the stage turning), Equitable Life (for some reason, I was fascinated by the real-time population display), The Pieta (Michelangelo’s sculpture; you stood on a conveyor belt and looked at it as you went past), New York State Pavilion (with the giant map of the state), and General Motor’s Futurama. I was 11-12, and went there on my own at least once. I also remember Tad’s Steak House serving a steak dinner for $1.19 (though by the time I got there, it was up to $1.29. For Montreal, we took a week off and flew up there. We got there on a Friday and the place was empty, so we were able to get in all the major exhibits. The next day, the place was mobbed, and it stayed that way the rest of the summer. There were lines everywhere, and lines to get on lines. My brothers and I formed a line to touch the canvas of the German pavilion, and several people fell in line after us. But I actually remember less of it than the New York one. Which ones have you gone to? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-fairs-youve-been-to/755081/2 "2016-05-18T13:44:49Z")
New York 64. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-fairs-youve-been-to/755081/3 "2016-05-18T13:47:01Z")
The world has never been fair. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way… Seattle 1962 ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-fairs-youve-been-to/755081/4 "2016-05-18T13:47:36Z")
According to my parents I went to New York’s World Fair. I would have been barely one, so I don’t remember, which really pisses my dad off. Apparently, he spent good money to take me and all I cared about was the light. I think taking me was a large bone of contention between him and my mother. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-fairs-youve-been-to/755081/5 "2016-05-18T13:52:25Z")
New York, '64. I was 9. I remember all the stuff you mention, **RealityChuck** , but my most vivid memory is riding on cable car, which my 11 year old brother and his friend managed to make sway like a 5 a.m. drunk. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-fairs-youve-been-to/755081/6 "2016-05-18T14:25:41Z")
New York and Montreal. I was around 12 years old for New York…I mostly remember the long lines, being disappointed in the Clairol, loved the house of the future (no washing dishes! Just put them in the melter, and mold new ones when needed!), and GM. We loved the Unisphere. Most of all, I remember the wonderful, wonderful Belgian waffles. Montreal, about all I remember was Habitat for Humanity. And that I got to ride up in the back of the pick-up truck with my cousins, something that is totally illegal now, but back then was simply fun. ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-fairs-youve-been-to/755081/7 "2016-05-18T15:12:12Z")
We went to the [Knoxville World’s Fair](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_World's_Fair) in 1982, on a road trip to Florida, in the middle of the summer, in a Granada with no A/C. One of my Barbies melted under the back window. Good times. I had just turned seven, so I don’t remember much, but the [giant rotating Rubik’s Cube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqn5mqDjsDA) made a big impression on me. That was the first I’d heard of it, and then soon after, everyone seemed to have one. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-fairs-youve-been-to/755081/8 "2016-05-18T15:18:14Z")
1964 New York. What I remember most were Michelangelo’s \*Pieta, \*the world’s largest cheese, and Sinclair Oil’s full-scale replicas of dinosaurs. My parents were at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, where they saw TV for the first time. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-fairs-youve-been-to/755081/9 "2016-05-18T15:35:55Z")
I would have gone to the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair if I had been alive at the time. Unfortunately, I was only a gleam in my grandfather’s eye. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-fairs-youve-been-to/755081/10 "2016-05-18T16:22:10Z")
Wanted to go to Spokane in '74, but my parents wouldn’t take me. I’m not sure I missed much, does anyone else even remember that Spokane held a World’s Fair (or, in fact, exists)? I did go to '86 in Vancouver several times. I enjoyed it, but I’m not sure I remember anything particularly ground-breaking from it that has gone on to change the world. I did get to ride a maglev on a short test track. I think they must have teamed up with the airshow in nearby Abbotsford, because they had an amazing lineup that year, and an SR-71 did a low flyby of the fair site. Glad I went. That seems to have been about the last hurrah for World’s Fairs; I know they’re still held but they seemed to fade from public consciousness about that time. > [@silenus](#): > > Seattle 1962 I’m a little envious. I grew up near Seattle and loved going to the science museum and Space Needle, which were on the same site, but missed the fair itself. Of course, it took place three years before I managed to be born so I’ve really no one to blame but myself. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-fairs-youve-been-to/755081/11 "2016-05-18T16:44:04Z")
I’ve been to three: New York, Montreal, and Knoxville. But I was so young at the New York fair that I have no memories of it. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-fairs-youve-been-to/755081/12 "2016-05-18T17:21:50Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Wanted to go to Spokane in '74, but my parents wouldn’t take me. I’m not sure I missed much, does anyone else even remember that Spokane held a World’s Fair (or, in fact, exists)? I was at the 1974 Spokane World’s Fair so I can tell you that it did happen and was not a mass hallucination the city had when hippie pranksters dropped LSD into the water supply. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-fairs-youve-been-to/755081/13 "2016-05-18T17:23:22Z")
I went to the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962 but only have vague memories of it, as I was only six at the time. I remember refusing to go up in the Space Needle or ride the sky cars because it was all too high and scary. I also remember camping somewhere near the Fair, at least close enough to drive there and back somewhat quickly. There must have set up temporary campgrounds just for the Fair. ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-fairs-youve-been-to/755081/14 "2016-05-18T20:15:49Z")
In 1960, I remember reading about the World’s Fair in Brussels in my Weekly Reader in school. That was the first I had ever heard of World’s Fairs. I remember reading about the Space Needle in Seattle for their World’s Fair. A friend of mine went to the New York Fair. I was so jealous! I really wanted to go to a World’s Fair. And, of course, we learned a little about other World’s Fair, and the modern wonders that they showcased. In 1968, San Antonio hosted the HemisFair, supposedly for countries in the Western hemisphere. I got to go to that, but felt cheated because it was only half a world’s fair. From then on, I never heard another word about World’s Fairs. Spokane and Knoxville? Never heard of 'em. (Well, I HAD heard of the cities, but not wrt World’s Fairs.) I still would like to go to one. ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-fairs-youve-been-to/755081/15 "2016-05-18T21:19:17Z")
> [@OffByOne](#): > > I still would like to go to one. Well, you’ve got a year to plan your trip to [Kazakhstan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expo_2017). ---
**Author:** ![toast\_pakora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@toast\_pakora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toast_pakora)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-fairs-youve-been-to/755081/16 "2016-05-18T21:45:40Z")
New York, but I don’t remember much except for “It’s a Small World AAAAAAfter All”. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-fairs-youve-been-to/755081/17 "2016-05-18T21:58:28Z")
And the Chrysler turbine car. Sent from my LG-V495 using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![oara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b77776/32.png) [@oara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oara)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-fairs-youve-been-to/755081/18 "2016-05-19T04:54:02Z")
Never been to one and had no idea so many had been in the US. I’m mostly showing restraint here by not quoting Dr Strangelove not-very-relevantly. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-fairs-youve-been-to/755081/19 "2016-05-19T10:28:09Z")
My family rented a motorhome and took a road trip from Saskatoon to Vancouver for Expo '86. The trip was pretty memorable, but the actual Expo wasn’t particularly. I remember I saw my first IMAX movie there, though. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-fairs-youve-been-to/755081/20 "2016-05-19T12:08:49Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > My family rented a motorhome and took a road trip from Saskatoon to Vancouver for Expo '86. The trip was pretty memorable, but the actual Expo wasn’t particularly. I remember I saw my first IMAX movie there, though. Oh, I’m pretty sure I’d seen IMAX movies before, but i saw my first 3D (the new process with the polarized glasses) movie there. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worlds-fairs-youve-been-to/755081.md?page=2)