The World’s Fair in 1964 drew thousands of people from around the globe to Flushing Meadows Corona Park. This poster is displayed in the Queens Museum in the park.
Fifty years ago, the crowds kept coming.
Hailing from Queens to California and far-flung countries across the globe, more than 51 million people trekked to Flushing Meadows Corona Park to the 1964-65 World’s Fair that was a showcase of American culture and technology. Featuring futuristic exhibitions – with many corporations demonstrating such technology as computers and telephone modems – the fair was described as an optimistic promise of a future laden with gadgets that broke down communication barriers to pave the way for a more peaceful world.
Fifty years later, the borough is about to remember that vision of the past – as well as usher in what leaders called a new era of tourism for the borough.
Borough President Melinda Katz and Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D-Maspeth), the co-chairs of the World’s Fair Anniversary Committee, unveiled at the newly renovated Queens Museum Friday a six-month series of events to commemorate the anniversary of both the 1964 and the 1939 World’s Fairs, both of which were held in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
“Both the 1939 and 1964 World’s Fairs were seminal events that had wide impacts locally, nationally and internationally,” said Katz, who noted she attended the 1964 event “in utero.” “They also left favorable impressions upon, and generated positive memories for, their attendees, and those impressions and memories have lasted until this day.”
Held within sight of the Unisphere, the massive globe created for the 1964 fair that has since become a cultural icon known worldwide as a symbol of Queens, the press conference included details about the upcoming months’ festivities, which will kick off April 22 – the day that the 1964 fair opened. The 1939 fair opened April 30.
Katz and Markey were joined by a long list of other elected officials and representatives from the borough’s cultural institutions, including the Queens Museum, the Queens Theatre – which is also situated in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, the Louis Armstrong House Museum, the Museum of the Moving Image, the New York Hall of Science, the Queens Botanical Garden, the Queens Chamber of Commerce, the Queens Historical Society, and more.
Among the events announced last week was the official opening ceremony, which will take place at 10:45 a.m. on Tuesday, April 22. The ceremony will be immediately followed by a rare opportunity for the public to tour the New York State Pavilion, which was built for the 1964 fair but has since fallen into disrepair. The borough president and a bevy of other lawmakers and civic leaders have thrown their support behind preserving the historic space.
Additionally, there will be a city Parks Department “World’s Fair Anniversary Festival” on Sunday, May 18, which will include food, rides, live entertainment, and exhibits of World’s Fair memorabilia. The festival will kick off at 1 p.m. and wrap up with a fireworks show.
Many of those who spoke Friday, including Katz, stressed that the anniversary celebrations are not solely about remembering the years past – but focusing on what the past can mean for the borough’s present and future.
“These events will also help in the achievement of my goal to rebrand Queens as a tourist destination with world-class cultural institutions and other attractions that people from around the borough, city, nation, and world should explore.”
Markey agreed.
“We’ll do our very best to make everyone come to Queens…and forget about that other island across the river,” Markey said, garnering laughter from those attending Friday’s event.
And Liam Kavanagh, the city Parks Department’s first deputy commissioner, said that the six months of celebrations won’t “only give us an opportunity to look back, but to see what the next 75 years of Flushing Meadows Corona Park will look like.”
A wide variety of cultural institutions, inside and out of the park, will be holding anniversary events. More information about these events can be found at a website set up by the Queens Tourism Council, www.itsinqueens.com/worldsfair
Queens elected officials, including Assemblyman David Weprin, third from left; Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, center; Assemblywoman Marge Markey, right of Katz, and Assemblyman Francisco Moya, third from right, on Friday joined representatives from various cultural institutions across the borough to announce plans to mark the 75th and 50th anniversaries of the 1939 and 1964 World’s Fairs. Photo courtesy NYS Assembly
