Expo 86 Memories?

Did you go to Expo 86? What are your favorite memories?

2011 marks the 25th anniversary of Expo 86 and we're looking to create a special episode of the World's Fair Podcast for people to share their memories.

You can do this by calling our phone line (650-ASK-EXPO), emailing Urso@ExpoMuseum.com, or posting on Twitter adding "@ExpoMuseum"

Google's Doodle on 01 May 2011

Google's doodle on 01 May 2011 celebrates the 160th anniversary of the first world's fair, the 1851 Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Crystal Palace:
http://www.ExpoMuseum.com/1851/

As I type this, it's 30 April 2011 in most of the world, but you can already see the doodle on Australia's site. It's interactive, so make sure you put your cursor over the graphic:
http://www.google.com.au/

2011 also marks the 25th anniversary of Vancouver's Expo 86. Next Friday, Science World hosts a celebration of Expo 86:
http://www.scienceworld.ca/swad

The World's Fair Podcast, Episode 22: Alfred Heller

In episode 22 of the World's Fair Podcast, writer Alfred Heller is our guest.

Alfred Heller founded World's Fair Magazine in 1981 and has been to 19 world's fairs so far... from 1939 to 2010. He talks about many of those world's fairs and why he thinks world's fairs are still relevant.

Listen to this podcast as an MP3.

Subscribe to this podcast.

World's Fairs and the End of Progress by Alfred Heller

WorldsFairs.com

Listen to other episodes of the World's Fair Podcast.

The World's Fair Podcast, Episode 9: World's Fair Legacy Sites with Jason Griffing

In Episode 9 of The World's Fair Podcast, hosts Urso Chappell and John McGregor talk with Jason Griffing about the former sites of world's fairs as well as memorabilia collecting.

Listen to this podcast.

Subscribe to this podcast.

You can leave feedback to the podcast by calling +1-650-ASK-EXPO

Expo 86

For my second article for China Daily, I thought it would be appropriate (as the Vancouver Winter Olympics come to an end) to talk about Vancouver's Expo 86:

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2010-03/01/content_9515558.htm

We also talk about Expo 86 on The World's Fair Podcast:

http://www.WorldsFairPodcast.com/

Expo 86 Photos

Vancouver is on everyone's minds these days thanks to the Olympics and, naturally, people think about Expo 86, which helped put the city on the map 24 years ago.

I've written an article for China Daily that should appear on Monday, we've recorded a podcast episode talking about Expo 86 with Bill Cotter, and I was offered new photos by Bob and Rose Elliott to post online. See all of the Expo 86 photos here.

Here are a few of the photos.











Thanks to Bob and Rose Elliott for sharing these with us.

The World's Fair Podcast, Episode 6: Vancouver's Expo 86 with Bill Cotter

In episode 6 of The World's Fair Podcast, we celebrate the 2010 Vancouver Olympics by talking about Expo 86's legacy. Bill Cotter, author of several books about world's fairs, joins us to discuss our favorite aspects of North America's last world's fair.

Here are some links related to our discussion:

WorldsFairPhotos.com -Bill Cotter's site
Edmonton's bid for Expo 2017
ExpoMuseum's Expo 86 page
Bob Buckley - the composer of "This is My Home"

Listen to this podcast.

Subscribe to this podcast.

The World's Fair Podcast, Episode 1

Our second episode of The World's Fair Podcast, Episode 1, is now available for download.

In this episode, John McGregor and I talk about some of our favo(u)rite pavilions:

- The Netherlands at Expo 2000,
- Japan at Expo 88,
- Canadian Pacific at Expo 86, and
- Morocco at Expo 92.

Download directly at WorldsFairPodcast.com or via iTunes.

Links to items discussed in the podcast:
- Photos of the Netherlands at Expo 2000
- Rainbow War on DVD

The World's Fair Podcast, Episode 0

I'm pleased to announce that Episode 0 of The World's Fair Podcast is now live.

In Episode 0, John McGregor of Foundation Expo 88 and I discuss world's fairs in general, the nomenclature, and the how world's fairs are still relevant.

The audio isn't that great yet (which is why this is episode "zero"), but subsequent episodes should sound much better.

To subscribe via iTunes, got to:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=346502335

Alternatively, you can listen to the episode through your web browser at:
http://www.WorldsFairPodcast.com/

I'd love to hear what people think. Please let me know what you'd like to hear in the future. In future episodes, we'll be interviewing both fans and professionals involved in expos in the past and future.

Exhibits About Future Expos

A conversation over on WorldsFairCommunity.org made me think about exhibits about future expos at an existing expo.

I remember seeing an exhibit about Expo 85 near the exit of the Japan Pavilion at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville. As a high school student, I so wished I could afford the $1985.00 for their cheapest travel package. I believe they also had an ad in the guidebook, something I've seen in other guidebooks.

At the 1984 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, Canada devoted a lot of space to Expo 86. I remember getting my first Expo 86 souvenir pins there in New Orleans.

The Germany Pavilion at Expo 98 in Lisbon had a huge section about Expo 2000 including a motion simulator ride where you went underwater in Lisbon and then surfaced and flew over the Expo 2000 site in Hannover.



Even though China hadn't won Expo 2010 yet, the China Pavilion at Expo 2000 promoted its bid for Shanghai. 2010 seems so far in the future back then.



Not surprisingly, the China Pavilion at Expo 2005 devoted a lot of space to promoting Expo 2010. They also showed a large film in their pavilion at Expo 2008.

At that same expo, next door the Korean Pavilion promoted its bid for Expo 2012, which it would end up winning.



Korea promoted Expo 2012 at Expo 2008 with an exhibit and a host that described the plans to guests. She actually spent a lot of time talking to me (in English) about the history of expos. Italy also promoted Expo 2015 at their Expo 2008 pavilion.

Another side topic to this would be Olympics being promoted in pavilions.



In these photos, Paris promoted their 1992 Olympic bid at Expo 86 and Italy promoted the 2008 Winter Olympics in Torino.

Anyone else remember any others?

Expos Have "Seemingly Disappeared?"

Every so often, I run into someone who'll adamantly proclaim that they don't hold world's fairs anymore.

It always saddens me to hear that, but it's really disturbing when a national newspaper basically says the same thing.

In writing about Calgary and Edmonton's potential bids for an Expo 2017, Canada's National Post on Friday, they proclaimed that expos "seemingly disappeared after Vancouver's Expo lands went condo."

That's just sloppy reporting. True, the word "seemingly" is in there, but for a newspaper of record to say that, it says that events that happen in other continents don't really "seem" to happen.

Since Expo 86, there have been eight world's fairs on three continents:

- 1988 Brisbane,
- 1992 Seville,
- 1992 Genoa,
- 1993 Taejon (Korea),
- 1998 Lisbon,
- 2000 Hanover,
- 2005 Aichi Prefecture, and
- 2008 Zaragoza (Spain).

In the next few years, we'll see:

- 2010 Shanghai (70 to 100 million visitors on 1300 acres),
- 2012 Yeosu (Korea), and
- 2015 Milan.

By this measure, Winter Olympics have also seemingly disappeared since Calgary hosted the 1988 Winter Olympics. After all, there have only been five since then and only one is planned in the next four years!

Edmonton Sun: 2017 World's Fair 'Doable' for Edmonton

In today's Edmonton Sun:

Bringing the world's fair to the Alberta capital in 2017 is "doable," say officials laying the groundwork for Edmonton's bid.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/09/12/6744116-sun.html

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I would be very happy to finally see a world's fair in North America again. If 2017 is the year, it will end a 31 year gap in North American world's fairs. The last expo was Expo '86 in Vancouver.