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I tought this was pretty funny... LOL... Especially the Washington headache part. I HEAR YA!!!
I'm so not looking forward to having to move back to DC this Spring. UGH...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pimpy
Personally, I wouldn't choose any of the giant cities on that list to host it today. I would choose another small city, such as my current city, West Palm Beach...
Interesting thought. I'm curious to know your reasons WHY you "wouldn't choose any of the giant cities."???
And what do you think about these smaller cities as World's Fair hosts:?
Savannah
Charleston
Austin (I know it's not "small")
Norfolk
Tucson
Annapolis
Sarasota
Pensacola
Toledo
Oklahoma City (also, not really small)
Spokane
Santa Fe
Chattanooga
Give it to Chicago. It would be consolation for not hosting an Olympics.
I'm no fan of the city of Chicago (But that's NOT to say it isn't a "great city." Chicago has it ALL... Just not the place for me. Not my kind of town.)
No fan of Chi, HOWEVER I DO feel they should have won that Olympic bid, and it WOULD be cool if they got to host a real BIG world's fair instead. They deserve it. Deserve better world recognition.
Quote:
Originally Posted by UrsoChappell
I wouldn't say it would be a "rebirth" but a "return." Since the last US world's fair in 1984, 12 world's fairs have been held in 10 countries on 4 continents. The next ones are Expo 2015 in Milan, Italy (a large one) and Expo 2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan (a small one).
For almost 15 years, I've operated ExpoMuseum.com and I have a web site, ExpoBids.com that tracks bids for future world's fairs. Five cities are bidding to host Expo 2020 (a large-sized world's fair) and cities are still in the "possible bids" stage for 2022-2023 (a small-sized world's fair) and 2025 (a large-sized world's fair).
Sadly, in order to have a good chance at winning, the United States needs to re-join the body that sanctions and recognizes world's fairs, The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE). We discontinued funding a little over 10 years ago.
I would argue that, as much as I love Epcot, it's not REALLY a permanent world's fair, at least not in the way they are now. Epcot just has 11 national pavilions which are focused on how those countries existed prior to World War II. Expo 2010, in Shanghai, had nearly 200 countries participating.
For those that think world's fairs are disappearing, it's worth noting that the largest world's fair in history (by area, by countries, and by visitors) was Expo 2010. 73 million people attended a world's fair on a site that was about 2 square miles.
Urso Chappell
ExpoMuseum.com
Very interesting and informative post. Thanks.
Personally, I feel like Denver and Atlanta could best benefit from hosting a REAL, BIG world's fair if done RIGHT. I feel like Denver would definitely do it right and take advantage of the opportunity. I fear Atlanta would end up squandering the opportunity because of poor municipal leadership with a tremendous lack of vision, and poor support from citizens that will vote against changes needed to be made to host a good, International stage Fair. BUT, if ATL gets their heads out of their butts and does it right, a Fair could forever change that city for the better.
Other cities I like for a Fair are: San Antonio, San Diego, Austin, Miami and Pittsburgh
I know. That's exactly my point. Chicago should've hosted the Olympics as they had the means & time to do so.
I think it would have had a lot of the exact same issues though, competing with the World's Fair in St. Louis at the same time so I'm not sure how different it would've turned out.
I'm no fan of the city of Chicago (But that's NOT to say it isn't a "great city." Chicago has it ALL... Just not the place for me. Not my kind of town.)
No fan of Chi, HOWEVER I DO feel they should have won that Olympic bid, and it WOULD be cool if they got to host a real BIG world's fair instead. They deserve it. Deserve better world recognition.
Completely agreed.
Quote:
Personally, I feel like Denver and Atlanta could best benefit from hosting a REAL, BIG world's fair if done RIGHT. I feel like Denver would definitely do it right and take advantage of the opportunity. I fear Atlanta would end up squandering the opportunity because of poor municipal leadership with a tremendous lack of vision, and poor support from citizens that will vote against changes needed to be made to host a good, International stage Fair. BUT, if ATL gets their heads out of their butts and does it right, a Fair could forever change that city for the better.
Seeing how government and the private sector came together to prepare Atlanta for the Olympics, I do think the same would happen for a World's Fair of a large magnitude and I agree that it would benefit from hosting a quality event. But those are certainly valid issues you bring up.
Dallas has the most venues and some of the largest then any other city besides L.A and Nyc.People who don't think Dallas would be a great city to host is either never been to the big D or have on been in certain areas of the city that evidenty didn't appeal to them or resemble the city that they came from.Dallas has more shopping per capital then any other city.It seem so funny people say they been there and describe it as a Texas cowboy city when that isn't the case at all.If you coming through Dallas on I-20 from L.A or ATL all you see is a piece of the metroplex.North Dallas/Plano reminds me of cali on the tollway and south Dallas with the lakes and green scenery reminds me of ATL.Coming in on I-35 from OLK city remind me of several cities in the southwest.So with all being said with the diversity of people and scenery and the major venues Dallas would be a great city to host!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seems like the US would really need to get global in its thinking before it ever gets back into the "world's fair" circuit.
The world's fairs in the US were all about imperialism and consumption.. impressive in the early part of the 20th century, but not so much anymore.
How about just an "America's Fair," where cities try to demonstrate how they are entering the new economy, how they're making serious investments in education, infrastructure, civic culture, etc. Our cities are way behind on all of that, mainly because our federal government is only beginning to sort of remember that cities exist.
I could imagine Detroit hosting a very interesting fair about homegrown solutions to poverty, disinvestment, sustainability, crime, etc. New Orleans and St. Louis could also host similar fairs.
Los Angeles could host a fair today, showcasing its growing transit infrastructure, new affordable housing architecture, "road dieting," as well as forthcoming solar/water systems, etc. New York and Chicago could also host fairs like these.
I think US cities are figuring themselves out right now, and there's not the same mad dash into the global arena that was happening in the early 20th century. New fairs would have to be based in that reality and could really start to demonstrate that certain cities are serious about finding solutions--not just dreaming about potential.
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