{"id":9105,"date":"2025-01-24T18:36:23","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T18:36:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/?p=9105"},"modified":"2026-02-19T04:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T04:53:11","slug":"worldsfairs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/worldsfairs\/","title":{"rendered":"The Greatest Location-Based Attraction of All Time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\"><div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_63 ez-toc-wrap-left counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/worldsfairs\/#A_Phenomenal_Draw_in_the_Age_of_Steam\" title=\"A Phenomenal Draw in the Age of Steam \n\">A Phenomenal Draw in the Age of Steam \n<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/worldsfairs\/#An_Artifact_of_the_Industrial_Age\" title=\"An Artifact of the Industrial Age\">An Artifact of the Industrial Age<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/worldsfairs\/#Evolution_of_the_Midway\" title=\"Evolution of the Midway\">Evolution of the Midway<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/worldsfairs\/#Source\" title=\"Source\">Source<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/worldsfairs\/#Enduring_Impacts\" title=\"Enduring Impacts\">Enduring Impacts<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/worldsfairs\/#Crumbling_Foundations\" title=\"Crumbling Foundations\">Crumbling Foundations<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/worldsfairs\/#Decline_in_Exhibitors\" title=\"Decline in Exhibitors\">Decline in Exhibitors<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">At their peak in the 19th century, world&#8217;s fairs were unparalleled spectacles of industry, commerce, and entertainment, unique in their ability to draw visitors and leave behind significant cultural impact and influences on the collective imagination.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">More simply, the fairs of that era were the greatest LBE attractions of all time.\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">In modern terms, these events were like a combination of a Consumer Electronics Show, Canton Fair, Apple Macworld Keynote, Disneyland, TED Talk, Universal Citywalk, MoMA, factory tour, cultural village, and scientific convention.\u00a0 Artifacts of the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/First_globalization\">First Age of Globalization<\/a>, their overarching goal was to exhibit all aspects of human commerce, knowledge, and endeavor in a single place, and their scale, volume of visitation, and lasting influence was awe-inspiring.<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9156\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1-1024x723.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"565\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1-1024x723.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1-300x212.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1-768x542.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1-1536x1084.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/1.jpg 1822w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/3.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9157\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/3-1024x641.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"501\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/3-1024x641.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/3-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/3-768x481.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/3-1536x962.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/3.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/venaiserie.anjou.e-lyco.fr\/espace-pedagogique\/histoire-geographie-emc\/lexposition-universelle-de-paris-en-1900\/\"><span style=\"font-size: 10px; font-family: Geologica;\">Source<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">World&#8217;s Fairs continue today.\u00a0 The latest, the 2020 Dubai Expo (which took place in 2021-2022 post-pandemic) boasted 24 million visitors to a country of 10 million.\u00a0 But like most of the world&#8217;s fairs of the past fifty years, raw visitation numbers have been high (some suspiciously so) without the same degree of worldwide cultural and societal impact.\u00a0 Modern fairs also benefit significantly from a large pool of available tourists (Dubai hosted 14 million overnight tourists in 2022), which was not available to 19th century cities in an age of steamships and rail.\u00a0 More on this later.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">Over the 20th century, many economic and geopolitical factors caused world&#8217;s fairs to evolve away from their role as singular sources of spectacle, innovation, and entertainment to the role they hold today, in which they function sort of as an exchange of goodwill among nations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">In this post I want to celebrate what were once the most mind-blowing spectacles that ever existed.\u00a0 I&#8217;ll lead with some of the mind-blowing characteristics of World&#8217;s Fairs (how big they were, what they were in the first place), then present what seem to be the likely reasons behind their fading significance.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"The Most Visited Attractions of all Time\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IvNQd3N_9us?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"A_Phenomenal_Draw_in_the_Age_of_Steam\"><\/span><strong>A Phenomenal Draw in the Age of Steam<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-1.48.05\u202fPM.png\"><br \/>\n<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">In their heyday, world&#8217;s fairs were the singular destination for nearly all tourism.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">This sounds like an exaggeration&#8230;but it&#8217;s not.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">The visitation they drew was unrivaled even in the modern era &#8211; in fact, adjusting for modernity makes their visitation even more impressive.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">The Chicago World&#8217;s Fair (World&#8217;s Columbian Exposition) in <span style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #19a48a; font-family: Geologica;\">1893 drew 27 million visitors<\/span> (21.5m paid) in a six-month period between May and October.\u00a0 This was 40% of the population of the United States at the time.\u00a0 Compare this to the <span style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #19a48a; font-family: Geologica;\">22 million visitors to Seaworld&#8217;s combined 15 parks, or Six Flags&#8217; 27 locations, in 2023<\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide4.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9146\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide4-1024x768.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide4-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide4-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide4-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide4.png 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9147\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide3-1024x768.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide3-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide3-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide3-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide3.png 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">This exercise can be repeated with nearly every major fair during the late 19th century and early 20th.\u00a0 The Exposition Universelle, the 1900 fair held in Paris, experienced even greater volumes &#8211;<span style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #19a48a; font-family: Geologica;\"> 39 million paid visitors of a total 51 million &#8211; in the <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #19a48a; font-family: Geologica;\"><strong style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">seven months<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #19a48a; font-family: Geologica;\"> between April and November<\/span>.\u00a0 This was a figure <strong>exceeding<\/strong> the population of France at the time. Compare this to the <span style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #19a48a; font-family: Geologica;\">16 million visitors to Disney Paris&#8217; <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #19a48a; font-family: Geologica;\">two theme parks over a <strong style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">twelve-month<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\"><span style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #19a48a; font-family: Geologica;\"> period in 2023<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Picture1.bmp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-9136\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Picture1.bmp\" alt=\"\" width=\"1007\" height=\"1211\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">The logistics required to accommodate such a large number of visitors was staggering.\u00a0 Single day visitation at the Philadelphia (1876) and 1889 Paris Expositions was 257,590 and 397,150, respectively.\u00a0 <span style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #19a48a; font-family: Geologica;\">Chicago on October 9th, 1893, recorded 716,881 paid visitors, which by at least one account was the single highest attended event in American history<\/span> (excluding free-of-charge parades and processions).\u00a0 For such a crowd, a single concession prepared &#8220;eatables sufficient to allay the wants of 300,000 persons&#8230;this company had eight restaurants and forty lunch counters in operation&#8230;with 40,000 pounds of meat, 12,000 loaves of bread, 200,000 ham sandwiches, 400,000 cups of coffee, 15,000 gallons of cream, and pies and cakes by the wagon.&#8221;\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Such figures, which are nearly 10x the peak-day crowd size of comparable <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/the-mega-chinese-theme-parks\/\">Disney and Universal Studios theme parks<\/a> today, and multiples of the record attendance at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox4news.com\/news\/state-fair-texas-2024-closes-record-breaking-attendance\">2024&#8217;s State Fair of Texas<\/a>, are almost hard to comprehend.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/8\/85\/Chicago_Day_at_the_Exposition_-_Chicago_World%27s_Fair_1893.jpg\/659px-Chicago_Day_at_the_Exposition_-_Chicago_World%27s_Fair_1893.jpg?20201203224324\" srcset=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/8\/85\/Chicago_Day_at_the_Exposition_-_Chicago_World%27s_Fair_1893.jpg\/988px-Chicago_Day_at_the_Exposition_-_Chicago_World%27s_Fair_1893.jpg?20201203224324 1.5x, https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/8\/85\/Chicago_Day_at_the_Exposition_-_Chicago_World%27s_Fair_1893.jpg\/1317px-Chicago_Day_at_the_Exposition_-_Chicago_World%27s_Fair_1893.jpg?20201203224324 2x\" alt=\"File:Chicago Day at the Exposition - Chicago World's Fair 1893.jpg\" width=\"659\" height=\"599\" data-file-width=\"1459\" data-file-height=\"1327\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/70994841@N07\/50539190832\/\"><span style=\"font-size: 10px; font-family: Geologica;\">Source<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-9141\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-15-at-12.10.27\u202fPM-e1737670448584-990x1024.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"634\" height=\"656\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-15-at-12.10.27\u202fPM-e1737670448584-990x1024.png 990w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-15-at-12.10.27\u202fPM-e1737670448584-290x300.png 290w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-15-at-12.10.27\u202fPM-e1737670448584-768x794.png 768w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-15-at-12.10.27\u202fPM-e1737670448584.png 1433w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 634px) 100vw, 634px\" \/><span style=\"font-family: Geologica; font-size: 10px;\">History of the World&#8217;s Fair (1893), E.B. Treat, Publisher<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Disney theme parks are the point of comparison here because they&#8217;re the world&#8217;s highest-attended theme parks and paid attractions, but what makes the drawing power of world&#8217;s fairs even more impressive was the state of mass tourism during the late 18th century.\u00a0 That is, <strong>there<\/strong> <strong>was no mass &#8216;tourism<\/strong>&#8216;.\u00a0 In that pre-automobile, pre-airplane society, local visitors had to arrive via horse-drawn carriage or trolley, while far-flung visitors journeyed for day or weeks via steamship and rail.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">These days we take for granted that a given metropolitan market has a built-in base of tourists.\u00a0 Both intra- and inter-regional travel is typically measured in the millions, in volumes that dwarf their resident populations.\u00a0 I.e., France is visited by more than 100 million tourists.\u00a0 Orlando hosts more than 70 million, New York more than 60 million.\u00a0 Thailand, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, draw 40+ million visitors a year.\u00a0 There are myriad factors that made this possible over the past century &#8211; the development of the passenger airline and automobile industries, new sources of energy production and its consumption, widespread affluence and an increase in leisure time, and so on.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">But in the early 20th century, such travel and tourism beyond the bounds of one&#8217;s local area was an upper-class endeavor.\u00a0 <span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">In the United States,<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #19a48a; font-family: Geologica;\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/3874776\">&#8220;30,000 to 60,000 tourists&#8221; visited Southern California annually<\/a> in the years 1901-1903, a fact that still earned the designation of Los Angeles as &#8220;essentially a tourist town.&#8221;\u00a0 Niagara Falls hosted up to half a million visitors in the 1890s, the Jersey shore attracted 150,000 annually, while Yellowstone National Park drew &#8220;nearly 7,000 a year&#8221;.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">In this milieu, to have an attraction like the Chicago World&#8217;s Fair (in 1893) draw more than 27 million visitors meant there was no established tourism infrastructure or volumes to draw from.\u00a0 The equivalent of $4 billion dollars was spent over a period of two years to construct an entirely new city.\u00a0 With a lack of hotel rooms, residents converted their homes into temporary barracks for friends and visitors.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-24-at-9.41.25\u202fAM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9148\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-24-at-9.41.25\u202fAM-978x1024.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"838\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-24-at-9.41.25\u202fAM-978x1024.png 978w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-24-at-9.41.25\u202fAM-287x300.png 287w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-24-at-9.41.25\u202fAM-768x804.png 768w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-24-at-9.41.25\u202fAM.png 1360w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">These world&#8217;s fairs were superlative in every aspect.\u00a0 Average fairground sizes for World&#8217;s Fairs have been in the range of 200+ acres, more than twice the size of an average Disney or Universal Studios park.\u00a0 The largest fairgrounds in the United States, in Texas and Minnesota, range from 270 to 320 acres in size.\u00a0 Compare this to the Chicago&#8217;s World Fair (1893), set on fairgrounds of nearly 700 acres, <span style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #19a48a; font-family: Geologica;\">while the St. Louis World&#8217;s Fair (1904) and New York World&#8217;s Fair both took place on over 1,200 acres, records that wouldn&#8217;t be broken until Expo 2010 in Shanghai<\/span>, whose grounds were 1,360 acres in size.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"An_Artifact_of_the_Industrial_Age\"><\/span><strong>An Artifact of the Industrial Age<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Hopefully, now that I&#8217;ve impressed on you the awe-inspiring scale of these fairs, you might be wondering just what all these people came to see?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">The clue is in the early names themselves &#8211; e.g., The Great Exhibition of the Works of <strong>Industry<\/strong> of All Nations (1851, London), The Great <strong>Industrial<\/strong> Exhibition (1853, Dublin), Exhibition of the <strong>Industry<\/strong> of All Nations (1853, New York), or the International Exhibition of <strong>Arts and Manufactures<\/strong> (1865, Dublin).\u00a0 World&#8217;s Fairs grew out of the trade fairs that had been organized in France and the United Kingdom for centuries.\u00a0 These were expositions in which manufacturers and artisans exhibited their pieces, vied for awards, and sold their wares.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">The official &#8220;Illustrated Catalogue&#8221; for London&#8217;s Great Exhibition of 1851, which was credited with being the first &#8220;world&#8217;s&#8221; fair for both its reach (with visitation equivalent to 30% of the United Kingdom&#8217;s population at the time), and for the architectural and engineering marvel that was its exhibition grounds (the Crystal Palace, in Hyde Park), is several hundred pages of wide-ranging goods: decorative furniture, wood carvings, jewelry and gemstones, carriages, ornamental weapons, furniture, chandeliers, glassware, engines, beehives.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/library.si.edu\/digital-library\/book\/officialdescrip1grea\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9138\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-2.05.15\u202fPM-1024x793.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"620\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-2.05.15\u202fPM-1024x793.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-2.05.15\u202fPM-300x232.png 300w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-2.05.15\u202fPM-768x595.png 768w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-2.05.15\u202fPM-1536x1189.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-2.05.15\u202fPM.png 1746w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10px; font-family: Geologica;\">Official descriptive and illustrated catalogue, v1., 1851\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">As the industrial age progressed, the exhibits were accordingly upgraded.\u00a0 Paris&#8217; 1889 Exposition Universelle featured a Galerie des machines, the largest vaulted building built up to that time, under which visitors on moving bridges could view 20 acres of gathered engines, dynamos, and transformers.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Similarly, Chicago&#8217;s 1893 fair featured a Palace of Mechanic Arts, in which the engines and dynamos gathered represented more than 24 million horsepower, enough to designate it as the largest power plant in the world, but with a functional purpose.\u00a0 Not only did the dynamos charge the electric transports and power the 5,000 arc lights and 120,000 incandescents at the fair, the machines on display crafted things for visitors, from gold bead necklaces to watch chains, to looms and printing presses.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9139\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-2.06.55\u202fPM-1024x709.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"554\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-2.06.55\u202fPM-1024x709.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-2.06.55\u202fPM-300x208.png 300w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-2.06.55\u202fPM-768x532.png 768w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-2.06.55\u202fPM-1536x1063.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-2.06.55\u202fPM-2048x1418.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><span style=\"font-size: 10px; font-family: Geologica;\">Galerie des machines, 1889.\u00a0 Source: Wikipedia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">In that era when economies were based primarily on agricultural and industrial &#8220;stuff&#8221;, the spectacle of seeing innovative, novel goods and products from every corner of the world alone could attract millions of visitors.\u00a0 With agriculture and industry accounting for 75 to 90% of the 19th century economy, such shows were a triumph, a celebration, an all-encompassing display of the entire world&#8217;s economy in a single place.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">The 1862 International Exhibition in London hosted <span style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #19a48a; font-family: Geologica;\">26,000 exhibitors, a record that would be broken with every successive major fair, with 53,000 in Vienna in 1873, and in Paris, 62,000 in 1889, and over 80,000 in 1900<\/span>.\u00a0 For a sense of scale and comparison, the <strong>modern world&#8217;s largest trade show is the Canton Fair<\/strong> in Guangzhou, which annually hosts approximately <span style=\"font-size: 18px; color: #19a48a; font-family: Geologica;\">25,000 exhibitors<\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Evolution_of_the_Midway\"><\/span>Evolution of the Midway<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">While the first fairs started with these commercial aims, by the late 19th century, the emphasis had shifted to that of all-encompassing spectacle.\u00a0 Fair organizers realized that while exhibitor fees, from both private entities and governments, constituted a significant portion of revenues, <strong>what would make or break the financial fortunes of the event were the crowds.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Viennas&#8217; 1873 exhibition marked a shift from industry, progress, and commerce to entertainment.\u00a0 Organizers had realized that people &#8220;wanted to travel the world in one day&#8221;.\u00a0 Organizers of the Melbourne exhibition in 1888 quickly added sideshows and rides, from electric railway and shooting gallery, to Swiss singers and yodellers, organ recitals, bicycle rides, and acrobatic feats, when attendance began to decline.\u00a0 By 1889, critics complained that &#8220;it was all too much fun, claiming that the public sought only amusement and neglected to learn from the exhibits.&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/auctions.leski.com.au\/images\/lot\/1754\/175487_xl.jpg?1656471302\" alt=\"A collection of Melbourne Exhibition Items; 13 printed items relating to the Melbourne Exhibition Building in 1888 including full pages from &quot;The Australasian Sketcher&quot;, &quot;The Sydney Mail&quot; and &quot;The Illustrated Australian News&quot;; 46 x 32cms (largest sheet si\" width=\"748\" height=\"459\" \/><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 10px; font-family: Geologica;\">Melbourne Exhibition, 1888.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/auctions.leski.com.au\/lot-details\/index\/catalog\/159\/lot\/73969\/A-collection-of-Melbourne-Exhibition-Items-13-printed-items-relating-to-the-Melbourne-Exhibition-Building-in-1888-including-full\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">In 1893, the Chicago World&#8217;s Fair included, in addition to the exhibits of manufacturing, industry, agriculture, and mining, gondola rides, electric boats, a garden island, and the world&#8217;s first Ferris wheel anchoring one end of a midway crowded with performers and touts from Egypt, West Africa, Japan, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, in buildings crafted skillfully to resemble a Japanese temple, old Cairo, a Turkish village, and an exact reproduction of the Blarney Castle.\u00a0 The foreigners hosted cafes and restaurants, performed native dances, and sold souvenirs.\u00a0 To lend a degree of seriousness, the fair also exhibited classical and modern art, and hosted scientific and philosophical conventions.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/static.wixstatic.com\/media\/3a61d0_e65af716a1dd4ee0b4bc4491e3d9aef1~mv2.jpg\/v1\/fill\/w_536,h_564,al_c,lg_1,q_80,enc_avif,quality_auto\/1932-09%20Popular%20Science%2010%20'Rocket'%20Cars.jpg\" alt=\"1932-09 Popular Science 10 'Rocket' Cars\" width=\"492\" height=\"518\" data-ssr-src-done=\"true\" \/><span style=\"font-size: 10px; font-family: Geologica;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flyingcarsandfoodpills.com\/rocket-cars-at-the-world-s-fairs\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">The midway, or boardwalk, became an established element at all subsequent fairs.\u00a0 Buffalo&#8217;s World Fair of 1901, besides being remembered as the event in which President McKinley was assassinated, featured a midway with ethnic villages, a carousel, ostrich farm, scenic railroad, and attractions with such evocative names as a Trip to the Moon, Dreamland, House-Upside-Down, and Darkness and Dawn.\u00a0 Attractions became bolder and more experimental, culminating in the 1930s at fairs in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, which featured nudist colonies, topless performers posing in &#8220;living magazine covers&#8221;, and all manner of striptease and burlesque shows.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Source\"><\/span><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sFlh5c FyHeAf iPVvYb aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/tumblereadsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/sally-rand-fort-worth.jpg?w=640\" alt=\"Sally Rand's\u2026Nude Ranch | Tumblereads: A New Twist on the Old West\" aria-hidden=\"false\" \/><span style=\"font-size: 10px; font-family: Geologica;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tumblereadsblog.com\/2023\/04\/28\/sally-rands-nude-ranch\/\">Source<\/a><\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Enduring_Impacts\"><\/span>Enduring Impacts<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">But while such concessionaires might have monopolized the attention (with some arrested), the underlying sentiment shines through.\u00a0 From the beginning, the premise of these World&#8217;s Fairs were to showcase the extent of human endeavors and accomplishment, technology, and innovation.\u00a0 Many were organized around the themes of universality, human &#8220;greatness&#8221; and progress.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Accordingly, much of the architecture, crafts, and inventions first displayed or developed specifically for these fairs made lasting, landmark contributions to the world&#8217;s cultural heritage.\u00a0 Typewriters, mechanical calculators, telephones, and phonographs were first displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exposition (1876).\u00a0 French impressionist art and the British Arts &amp; Crafts movement were first showcased at the 1883 American Exhibition of the Products, Arts and Manufacturers of Foreign Nations (Boston), the Ferris Wheel was introduced at the 1893 World&#8217;s Columbian Exposition, and refreshments like hot dogs, ice cream cones, and ice tea made their debut at the 1904 St. Louis Fair, alongside baby incubators.\u00a0 Ideas such as functionalism\/Swedish Modern design trace their origin to the 1930 Stockholm Exhibition, while interest in Spanish colonial architecture is attributed to the 1915 Panama-California Exposition (San Diego).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-2.03.27\u202fPM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9137\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-2.03.27\u202fPM-1024x794.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"620\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-2.03.27\u202fPM-1024x794.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-2.03.27\u202fPM-300x233.png 300w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-2.03.27\u202fPM-768x596.png 768w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-2.03.27\u202fPM.png 1462w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Fairs also contributed lasting impacts to our physical world.\u00a0 France gifted the torch of the yet-unfinished Statue of Liberty to the United States for the 1876 exhibition, while the <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 Exposition Universelle.\u00a0 The Paris Metro and the Grand Palais were built for the exposition in Paris just a decade later.\u00a0 Wembley Stadium was originally constructed for the 1924 British Empire Exhibition, Atomium hailed the arrival of the nuclear age in Brussels in 1958, while Seattle&#8217;s Space Needle was built for the Century 21 exposition in 1962.\u00a0 Other tourist attractions and theme parks, such as Montreal&#8217;s La Ronde (1967), San Antonio&#8217;s Tower of the Americas (1968), and Seville&#8217;s La Isla Magica (1992), owe their existence to their respective fairs.\u00a0 So too for Disneyland&#8217;s It&#8217;s a Small World ride, which was initially an exhibit at the 1964 New York fair.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Crumbling_Foundations\"><\/span><strong>Crumbling Foundations<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">But as the world entered the 20th century, the emphasis and importance of world&#8217;s fairs began to decline.\u00a0 From a peak of two, or sometimes four fairs per year in the late 19th century, fairs have happened approximately two to four times per decade for the past half century.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9144\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide1-1024x768.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide1-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide1-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide1-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide1.png 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">The 20th century was tumultuous for an attraction whose premise was based on global trade and harmonious relations, with world and regional wars, to a depression, to the Cold War.\u00a0 There were only two fairs in the decade between 1941 and 1951, and only one between 1950 and 1960.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Decline_in_Exhibitors\"><\/span>Decline in Exhibitors<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">But the warning signs could be seen even in the decade previous to that.\u00a0 Recall that over 80,000 exhibitors were present in the 1900 Exposition Universelle.\u00a0 At the New York World&#8217;s Fair, there were only 1,500.\u00a0 This was even with a visitation (45 million) nearly equivalent to that of the former (51 million).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">Exhibitors were not only the pillar upon which these world&#8217;s fairs were founded, they were one of the primary attractions for visitors, as well as one of the major sources of revenue (in the form of exhibition fees), with fees paid by governments and individual companies alike amounting to millions of dollars in today&#8217;s terms.\u00a0 A collapse in the number of exhibitors meant a collapse in both the attractiveness and economic fortunes for the fairs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">As early as the 1860s, competition in the form of journals, specialized trade fairs, and &#8220;congresses&#8221; had emerged to dilute the impact of such expositions for the dissemination and promotion of technical and cultural progress.\u00a0 Simultaneously, exhibitors became increasingly dissatisfied.\u00a0 As exhibitions became more spectacular, manufacturers found themselves having to &#8220;develop specially created products.\u00a0 For the decorative arts and commodities, it had become customary to exhibit spectacular objects&#8221; that proved hard to sell.\u00a0 They further complained of fair logistics, which often left them in uncertainty about the dimensions of the space they would be allocated, which often turned out to be too small.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">While incurring high expenses for travel and transport, exhibitors discovered there was little immediate commercial benefit to exhibiting.\u00a0 For the purposes of &#8220;doing business involving meeting new retailers, dealers, and contractors, specialized trade fairs were much more effective and much less costly.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">Despite such trends in the 1870s, the number of exhibitors still continued to rise for the next quarter century, until hitting a peak of 83,047 in France in 1900.\u00a0 As a promotional device, World&#8217;s Fairs and the potential awards that could be won there, remained a draw.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">But over the next few decades, the number of exhibitors continued to dwindle.\u00a0 As the agricultural and industrial sectors of the economy shrunk in relation to services, many of the small-scale artisans and manufacturers that had comprised the bulk of the exhibitors were permanently phased out.\u00a0 In some sectors, corporations consolidated control.\u00a0 All the while, would-be exhibitors found other promotional outlets.\u00a0 Of course, there were also wars, recessions, geopolitical conflicts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9145\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide2-1024x768.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide2-1024x768.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide2-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide2-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Slide2.png 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-1.48.46\u202fPM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9132\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-1.48.46\u202fPM-1024x610.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"477\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-1.48.46\u202fPM-1024x610.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-1.48.46\u202fPM-300x179.png 300w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-1.48.46\u202fPM-768x458.png 768w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-23-at-1.48.46\u202fPM.png 1534w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\"><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">And when the exhibitors left, what was left?\u00a0 It was entertainment, amusement, spectacle, the midway rides, cultural villages, and outlandish shows.\u00a0 But in this respect, too, the fairs were doomed.\u00a0 A widespread consumer class, urbanization, and electrification meant that by 1906 in the United States, an &#8220;amusement park boom&#8221; had resulted in over 1,500 parks and a mania as every man &#8220;from almost all professions of life&#8230;without knowledge or particular ability in this line endeavored to build parks.&#8221;\u00a0 This had echoes abroad as well, with amusement parks &#8220;such as are to be found all over the United States&#8221; sprung up in urban centers and resorts all over Britain, reaching more than 30 by 1914.\u00a0 These &#8216;permanent fairs&#8217; drew crowds by the millions, diluting the importance &#8211; and impact &#8211; of the world&#8217;s fair midway and amusement grounds.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\"><span style=\"font-family: EB Garamond;\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">This something for everyone, entire-universe-under-one-roof model was bound to decline.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">By the 1960s, the number &#8211; and character &#8211; of world&#8217;s fair exhibitors had changed drastically.\u00a0 At the San Antonio HemisFair of 1968, there were only 55 exhibitors, representing 25 countries, 21 corporations, and 2 US states.\u00a0 While the figure has increased in recent years &#8211; Dubai&#8217;s Expo 2020 featured 266 exhibitors, of which 190 were country pavilions.\u00a0 Corporate participation was limited to a handful of global brands like Emirates Air, Gatorade, L&#8217;Oreal, Mastercard, Canon, and Pepsi.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-24-at-10.32.00\u202fAM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-9160\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-24-at-10.32.00\u202fAM-1024x828.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"706\" height=\"571\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-24-at-10.32.00\u202fAM-1024x828.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-24-at-10.32.00\u202fAM-300x243.png 300w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-24-at-10.32.00\u202fAM-768x621.png 768w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-24-at-10.32.00\u202fAM-1536x1242.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-24-at-10.32.00\u202fAM-2048x1656.png 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 706px) 100vw, 706px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">While world&#8217;s fairs no longer hold the central place they once did, their influence endures. The landmarks, cultural movements, technological advancements, and theme park rides they brought into existence, continue to shape the world.\u00a0 In the modern era, the spirit of world&#8217;s fairs lives on in specialized expos, trade shows, amusement parks, festivals, museums, and the myriad of individual attractions that continue to connect and inspire people around the world.\u00a0 And perhaps most importantly for readers of this blog, to imagine such an attraction once existed, all-encompassing and universal in theme, content, and appeal, is an inspiration for us all as we continue to conceptualize and plan these attractions that bring people together.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px; font-family: 'EB Garamond';\">The heyday of World&#8217;s Fairs may have passed, but temporary and touring exhibits are undergoing a revival of sorts.\u00a0 For data on this product type, be sure to check out our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/store\/product\/touring-exhibits-experiences-brief\/\">exhibits brief<\/a>.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 15px; font-family: Geologica; line-height: 22px;\">Bibliography:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 15px; font-family: Geologica; line-height: 22px;\">The Pleasure Garden, from Vauxhall to Coney Island, Edited by Jonathan Conlin<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 15px; font-family: Geologica; line-height: 22px;\">World of Fairs, by Robert W. Rydell<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 15px; font-family: Geologica; line-height: 22px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/History_of_the_World_s_Fair\/f702AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&amp;gbpv=0\">History of the World&#8217;s Fair Being A Complete and Authentic Description of the Columbian Exposition From its Inception<\/a>; E.B. Treat Publisher<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 15px; font-family: Geologica; line-height: 22px;\">The Crystal Palace Exhibition Illustrated Catalogue &#8211; London (1851)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 15px; font-family: Geologica; line-height: 22px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/encyclopediaofwo0000unse_o4i8\/mode\/2up\">Encyclopedia of World&#8217;s Fairs and Expositions<\/a>, edited by John E. Findling and Kimberly D. Pelle<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At their peak in the 19th century, world&#8217;s fairs were unparalleled spectacles of industry, commerce, and entertainment, unique in their ability to draw visitors and leave behind significant cultural impact and influences on the collective imagination. More simply, the fairs of that era were the greatest LBE attractions of all time.\u00a0 In modern terms, these [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[155,108,154],"class_list":["post-9105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","tag-fairs","tag-history","tag-worlds-fairs"],"acf":{"":"","bfi_title":"","bfi_title_2":"","bfi_description":"","chart_image":"","chart_title":"","chart_description":"","bc_title":"","bc_sub_title":"","bc_content":"","bc_right_side_content":"","highlighted_image":"","highlighted_sub_title":"","highlighted_title":"","highlighted_bottom_text":"","highlighted_button_text":"","highlighted_button_link":"","below_highlighted_title":"","below_highlighted_sub_title":"","below_highlighted_content":"","below_highlighted_right_side_title":"","below_highlighted_list":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparkdb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}