Come On Down To The World's Fair!
/I'm excited to be soon offering even more dates for my World's Fair history of Flushing-Meadows, in Queens. I've written about this tour before-- such as my recent post on the Fair's connections to the Disney theme park empire-- as it is a favorite of mine to lead. And it's a perfect time to visit... due to the warm winter, I already saw cherry blossoms in early bloom there yesterday!
Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is actually larger in size than Central Park (fact: the latter is actually only the city's fifth-largest park). It sits on a former dumping ground, which was derided as "a valley of ashes" in F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby'. The land was cleared and turned into park-land by famous city planner Robert Moses to become the site of the 1939 World's Fair (which was a hit with crowds, but a financial failure). There is only one building remaining from that Fair... which later became the first headquarters for the United Nations, was re-purposed for the 1964 Fair, and currently houses the Queens Museum. That museum still houses an exhibit from 1964 (since updated)... the popular Panorama of the City of New York, which depicts all of the buildings in the entire city in 1:1200 scale. It must be seen to be believed. We see all of this on my tour.
(It is this park that, of course, hosts the annual US Open tennis tournament.)
On this tour, we also pass the following World's Fair artifacts & landmarks: the iconic Unisphere, the New York State Pavilion, a time capsule, numerous statues, Rocket Park, old streets and water fountains, a Jordanian marble column which dates back to 120 AD, and much more.
Learn how these two Fairs reflected the times they were in, while looking to the future, and how they re-shaped New York City as a whole for years to come.
I will provide images & stories from the past....
....While we tour its present and learn of its future:
I believe this is a fun & easy tour for visitors of all ages... whether you visited the World's Fair, and want to re-live those memories, or you are young and want to discover what Queens has to offer.
Interested? Contact me!