Weddings at World's Fairs?

Here's a view of a couple tying the knot on the Parachute Jump at the 1939-40 New York World's Fair. Weddings were first performed as a publicity stunt, but it appears that regular visitors could arrange to have their wedding held in the air as well.



Anyone know of any wedding ceremonies held at other fairs? I can't recall coming across any view from any other than this one, but I would imagine there has to have been some.

I hope this survived somewhere

Here's a view looking inside the main entrance of he Republic of China Pavilion at the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair. This unusual shot has a great view of the beautiful phoenix wall panel inside the entrance.



Other smaller pieces of the building have shown up from time to time, so here's hoping that somewhere there's a Chinese restaurant or some other place providing a home to this panel. It would be a shame if it has been lost.

World Photo Memories (1982)

I obviously enjoy photos from world's fairs. This view from the 1982 Knoxville World's Fair shows that one of the vendors hoped others shared that interest as well. This booth was set up at the end of sky ride, capturing views of the riders. The results were posted up on the side of the booth, where guests could try to find themselves. Today this is all done electronically, of course, and the selections are done on monitors.

I wonder how many they sold, and how many are still around today.

Things are looking up

If you're under the Atomium, that is. I liked this angle of the theme structure from Expo 58. I wasn't lucky enough to have gone to Expo 58, but I can only imagine how marvelous this must have looked to fair visitors. Structures like this really impress me as they were done without the computer tools commonly used today. Coming just a decade after the end of World War II all of Expo 58 must have seemed like a real wonderland.

What happens when the tour guide gets lost?

I was going through some pictures of the 1939-40 New York World's Fair and came across this one of a Greyhound tram full of passengers. Looking closer, though, at the driver makes it look like he is lost and trying to retrace his route.



"I should have made that left turn in Albuquerque."



Or, perhaps, he was leading a game to pass the time until departure and the one lady in the first row didn't hear him say "Simon says put your hand on your chin". Everyone else seems to have gotten the message though.

OK, some silly thoughts, but still a nice picture of the Fair.

The end of the 1984 New Orleans World's Fair

This isn't thegreatest of photos, but it's a view of the closing ceremonies for the 1984 New Orleans World's Fair. Following a tumultuous season, it closed forever on November 12, 1984 - 25 years ago yesterday.



I guess it's sort of fitting that I had missed the actual anniversary of the closing, as the fair seems to have been all but overlooked on its silver anniversary. There wasn't much in the way of press coverage, and plans to place a marker on the site apparently fell through. The most visible remembrance of the fair was the return of the King Triton figure (or most of him, anyway) from the former Bridge Gate entrance to a vacant plot near the Convention Center.

R.I.P., poor fair, the last held in the United States.

Souvenir letters from Expo 85

My son is a senior in high school, and we were all a bit surprised when a letter showed up in the mail the other day addressed to him in a childish scrawl - especially as it looked like his old handwriting. It turns out that his sixth grade teacher had all of the kids write themselves a letter back then and had held them until now for mailing. It was a great idea, giving the kids a look at how they predicted they would be doing in high school.

Visitors to Expo 85 in Tskuba, Japan could do the same thing. Letters placed in this special mailbox were to be held until 2001 for mailing. I wonder how many letters actually got to where they were supposed to go, given that people often move within a sixteen year stretch. I also wonder how they dealt with the rise in postage rates. If anyone has seen one of these letters surface after the fair please let me know.