Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The 1984 New Orleans World's Fair
    The 1984 New Orleans World's Fair
    The 1984 New Orleans World's Fair
    Ebook189 pages53 minutes

    The 1984 New Orleans World's Fair

    By Bill Cotter

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    In 1984, the city of New Orleans hosted the last world's fair held in the United States.


    Conceived as part of an ambitious effort to revitalize a dilapidated section of the city and establish New Orleans as a year-round tourist destination, it took more than 12 years of political intrigue and design changes before the gates finally opened. Stretching 84 acres along the Mississippi River, the fair entertained more than seven million guests with a colorful collection of pavilions, rides, and restaurants during its six-month run. While most world's fairs lose money, the 1984 New Orleans World's Fair had the dubious distinction of going bankrupt and almost closing early. However, the $350-million investment did succeed in bringing new life to the area, which is now home to the city's convention center and a bustling arts district.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateDec 31, 2008
    ISBN9781439642177
    The 1984 New Orleans World's Fair
    Author

    Bill Cotter

    Bill Cotter is the author of the novels Fever Chart, The Parallel Apartments, and The Splendid Ticket. He is also responsible for the middle-grade adventure series Saint Philomene’s Infirmary, published by Henry Holt. His short fiction has appeared in The Paris Review, Electric Literature, and elsewhere. An essay, “The Gentleman’s Library,” was awarded a Pushcart Prize in 2013. When he is not writing, Cotter labors in the antiquarian book trade. He lives in Austin with his wife, the retired opera singer Krissy Olson.

    Read more from Bill Cotter

    Related to The 1984 New Orleans World's Fair

    Related ebooks

    Photography For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Faces

      Feb 7, 2020

      Faces
      5 min read

    • Article

      A Letter Of Thanks To CSNS

      May 27, 2019

      A Letter Of Thanks To CSNS
      4 min read

    • Article

      Art Attack

      Apr 3, 2020

      Art Attack
      2 min read

    • Article

      On The Town

      Jun 5, 2019

      On The Town
      6 min read

    • Article

      Why Coin Shows Worldwide Are Facing A Turning Point

      Nov 3, 2023

      In Germany, the year for coin collectors ended shortly after it had begun – after the spectacular comeback of the World Money Fair in Berlin in February and Numismata in Munich in March 2023, there is a glaring void in the calendars of most German nu

      3 min read

    • Article

      Florida Design Calendar

      Jun 29, 2020

      3-5 West Palm Beach Antiques Festival, Expo Center at the South Florida Fairgrounds, West Palm Beach, FL, 941.697.7475 21-23 HOME TEXTILES SOURCING EXPO, Summer 2020 Virtual Edition, New York, NY, 770.984.8016 21-26 40th Annual Hemingway Days, Key We

      2 min read

    • Article

      Living In The Past

      Mar 18, 2024

      Living In The Past
      7 min read

    • Article

      Folk Dance

      Jun 27, 2023

      Folk Dance
      2 min read

    • Article

      WELCOME TO The BIG Apple

      Apr 1, 2020

      WELCOME TO The BIG Apple
      3 min read

    • Article

      Collecting AMIDST COVID

      Sep 4, 2020

      Collecting AMIDST COVID
      2 min read

    • Article

      Event Wrap-ups

      Aug 15, 2022

      Let‘s kick off these event wrap ups at the United Nations building in New York City. Over 200 people from various disciplines and backgrounds from around the world came together to discuss how the cannabis industry can align with the UN’s Sustainable

      2 min read

    • Article

      May–June

      May 16, 2018

      Row DTLA, Los Angeles, California, US 7-10 June Citywide with 50 event locations, LA Design is all-encompassing in its breadth to include architecture, interior design, industrial and furniture design. It is also place-specific to LA with costume, se

      3 min read

    • Article

      Calendar

      Jan 1, 2023

      10-13 Lightovation, International Lighting Show, Market Center, Dallas TX, dallasmarketcenter.com 10-16 Atlanta Winter Market, AmericasMart, Atlanta, GA, atlantamarket.com 13-15 46th Annual Art Deco Weekend, Art Deco Historic District, Ocean Drive, M

      1 min read

    • Article

      Calendar

      Jan 1, 2023

      10-13 Lightovation, International Lighting Show, Market Center, Dallas TX, dallasmarketcenter.com 10-16 Atlanta Winter Market, AmericasMart, Atlanta, GA, atlantamarket.com 13-15 46th Annual Art Deco Weekend, Art Deco Historic District, Ocean Drive, M

      1 min read

    • Article

      New Orleans

      Aug 5, 2021

      New Orleans
      8 min read

    • Article

      10 Things To

      Jun 21, 2021

      1) Read___ Empire of Pain, a history of America’s opioid crisis — a public health disaster which has become so bad that in the US you are now more likely to die of an accidental opioid overdose than you are in a car accident. Perhaps the most shockin

      3 min read

    • Article

      A New Day For New York

      Apr 10, 2021

      A New Day For New York
      1 min read

    • Article

      ANA Show Makes Successful Comeback

      Sep 3, 2021

      Everyone loves a good comeback story, and it’s safe to say the 2021 American Numismatic Association’s World’s Fair of Money in Chicago was just that. After a 2020 hiatus due to COVID, the show, held Aug. 10-14 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Cen

      1 min read

    • Article

      Temperature Check are Oil Companies Losing Their Social Licence?

      Feb 25, 2019

      The campaign for climate justice has landed me in some strange places over the past few years. I’ve invaded a theatre stage and smeared myself with fake oil while declaiming Shakespearean couplets; sung in a pop-up musical to disrupt the press launch

      2 min read

    • Article

      THE NEW Roaring ’20s

      Jun 30, 2021

      THE NEW Roaring ’20s
      5 min read

    • Article

      November Calendar

      Nov 5, 2019

      WHERE: New York City, USA WHEN: 4 to 10 Nov A highly anticipated week-long event, the very best comedic talents from across the globe perform at the Big Apple as a part of this event. The shows are held across NYC, from the Beacon Theatre to the Tow

      2 min read

    • Article

      Rehs Galleries: Cross-country For A Quarter Century

      Jan 23, 2020

      NEW YORK — These days, much of the art world revolves around the art fair scene … it’s estimated there were more than 300 art fairs that took place in 2019, with thousands of international galleries participating. Think about that: There are only 52

      2 min read

    • Article

      New York New York

      Nov 1, 2019

      New York New York
      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The 1984 New Orleans World's Fair

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      The 1984 New Orleans World's Fair - Bill Cotter

      Orleans.

      INTRODUCTION

      As a fan of world’s fairs, the 1984 New Orleans World’s Fair has long fascinated me. It was widely panned while it was open, and many people blame its financial problems for ending the possibility of future such events in the United States. Indeed, it was the last world’s fair to be held in America. And yet, despite the problems the fair encountered, it has a host of loyal fans who still recall it fondly today.

      To say the fair lost money is undoubtedly true, for it ended up awash in a sea of red ink. It has the dubious distinction of being the only fair forced to declare bankruptcy while the gates were still open. Many of its participants lost large sums of money, and a long list of creditors went unpaid. Fair executives were forced to defend themselves in a long series of lawsuits that went on for years. Despite these problems, the fair has to be properly measured against the test of time.

      To do so, one must first look back at the years that led up to the fair and understand the economic and political forces that brought it to life. An event as large as a world’s fair just doesn’t come into being without a reason, and it should not come as a surprise that the reason for this fair was money. Specifically, from the start, the fair was intended as a means of bringing more tourists—and their money—to town.

      When the first talk of a world’s fair surfaced in 1974, the potential exposition was touted as a way to garner sufficient state and federal funds to build a new convention center. While New Orleans has long been famous for the annual Mardi Gras celebrations, when thousands of tourists arrive to enjoy the parades, costumes, and partying, the city had failed to develop much in the way of a steady year-round tourist or convention business. New Orleans had a lot to offer, including some well-known restaurants and nightclubs, but the infrastructure simply was not there to support a significant convention trade or to attract families interested in seeing the city or the rest of Louisiana.

      This was the reason that New Orleans would eventually come to host a world’s fair. The fair designers built their entire project around the new convention center, for there could not be one without the other. In doing so, they brought new life into the run-down area surrounding the site. They also threw a party the likes of which most cities could only dream about.

      For the six months of the fair, New Orleans had a special reason to celebrate. The fair offered visitors a variety of pavilions and shows, which is expected at any world’s fair, but more importantly, it provided a condensed version of some of the excitement that is New Orleans. Visitors to the fair could enjoy live music in several different venues, ranging from small stages to a massive new amphitheater. There were daily parades capped by a fireworks show each evening, but perhaps most importantly, the fair offered some unique dining and drinking experiences to local visitors and those new to the area.

      It’s this feeling of fun and entertainment that made me want to tell the complete story of the fair. It wouldn’t be right to gloss over the problems of the fair, but it would be worse to focus on them and ignore the fact that millions of guests came and enjoyed themselves. That is the reason that most people go to fairs—not to be educated, but to try a new experience or two and have fun in the process.

      Petr Spurney, the man who ran the fair, mentioned that they had seriously miscalculated how often season pass holders would come to the fair. The official estimate of 5 to 10 uses turned out to be quite wrong; it was not uncommon for pass owners to come back 30 to 40 times. While the rest of the world may not have come in the numbers hoped for, many local residents did make the most of the event. They kept coming back because they were having fun.

      Now, almost 25 years after the fair closed, and after the last of the lawsuits was settled, numerous critics have started reevaluating the fair and its impact on the city. The fair is now credited with increasing the convention and tourism businesses as originally planned, but it is also now widely acknowledged as having been the impetus behind the revitalized surrounding community. A lively arts district has taken hold, with pricey lofts replacing the little-used warehouses that were there before the fair. The city not only has its convention center but a busy cruise ship terminal, a successful mall, and numerous hotels, all on the former fair site.

      This is the story I have tried to convey. The 1984 World’s Fair had a lasting effect on the city, one far greater than most realized at the time. It was also, despite the notoriously hot and muggy New Orleans weather, a very special place that deserves another look. Hopefully this collection of photographs will help recapture some of that spark and magic.

      – Bill Cotter

      August 2008

      www.worldsfairphotos.com

      One

      BRINGING THE WORLD TO NEW ORLEANS

      For six months in 1984, the 82-acre site of the Louisiana World Exposition will become a separate and fanciful world.

      —Pre-fair marketing booklet

      When the gates of the 1984 World’s Fair opened on May 12, it was the culmination of an effort that had taken 10 years and millions of dollars. The project had started in 1974, when Edward Stagg, the executive director of the Council for a Better Louisiana, saw a fair as an opportunity to build a more robust convention business. Other cities, including Seattle, Montreal, and San Antonio, had used their fairs to build the infrastructure needed to attract more visitors or

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1