By Eleanor Kazdan, January 28, 2021 — I remember my father talking excitedly about World Fairs when I was a young child. It sounded so exotic to be able to see exhibits from all over the world as well as fantasy cars and spaceships from the future.
In 1964, my parents announced that our family of 6 was driving to New York to attend the World’s Fair. I had been to New York a number of times to visit my mother’s aunts, uncles, and cousins who lived in Flushing, which it turns out that was where the World Fair was. We attended shows at Radio City Music Hall, ate cream cheese sandwiches on raisin bread at Chock Full O’ Nuts, and walked endlessly up and down Broadway.
In the early 60’s people still got dressed up to go out and the World’s Fair was no exception. My mother had taught herself how to sew and was quite an expert seamstress. For the occasion, she sewed me a white wool coat lined with covered buttons and a matching A-Line skirt. I wore little heels and felt quite sophisticated and grown-up.
The theme of that World’s Fair was Peace Through Understanding. There were exhibits profiling the cultures of 80 different countries. One big theme was the future, space travel, and modern cars. One exhibit showed a model of the World Trade Center which was constructed several years later. The Ford Mustang was introduced and became a runaway bestseller. RCA debuted a color television. We walked through this fantasy world for two days, exhausted and inspired.
In 1967 I had the opportunity to attend another World’s Fair, Expo 67, this time in Montreal. This was another city I was very familiar with. It was where my mother grew up, and my grandparents along with many other relatives lived there. Expo 67 coincided with my grandparents’ 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration. It also coincided with Canada’s centennial.
The rest of my family drove to Montreal without me since I had to finish my high school final exams. After completing my exams I took my very first flight from Toronto to Montreal to meet them. My family took very few pictures, and in those days people generally didn’t, but especially my family. I can’t find a single picture of the ‘67 World’s Fair, but that of course I remember much more clearly because I was more on my own. I went with my cousin, and it wasn’t with my family. The Montreal World’s Fair was wildly popular. It is considered to be the most successful World’s Fair of the 20th century. The first Habitat for Humanity had been designed and built for it, and it was a very new concept. I think one of the most popular exhibits was the Russian Pavilion, which was all about space travel. So many people attended the fair that we had to line up for hours to get into the pavilions. And we thought, “Well, that’s ridiculous. Waiting three or four hours to get into a pavilion?” But it was true, you had to wait three or four hours to get into the pavilion. Expo 67 was a landmark event in Canadian history. Montreal’s major league baseball team was named the Expos after it.
