25th Anniversary of the 1982 Worlds Fair

May 4

When you first walked through the Henley Street gates at the World’s Fair, I was always impressed that there were never really that many long lines. Now, in hindsight that might mean there just weren’t that many people interested in coming. But truly each gate had a number of turnstiles and a healthy number of ticket takers, so - no waiting!

As I mentioned in my previous post the first sense that is assaulted is your sense of smell from the Buddy’s stand. That’s true, but close on the heels of that is the sight of the Sunsphere towering over your head, directly in front. In those days the base was painted blue so it looks a bit different than today.

When you glance up at the golden sphere, you see a number of different reflections. You may see a bright flash of sunshine, a ripple of water, people moving - maybe a cloud or something that could be anything. The gold-flecked windows were mounted at such angles as to catch reflections from all around. Even today it can be a bit mesmerizing.

I went up in the Sunsphere I believe twice during the course of the Fair - once was actually a day or two previously, when they hosted a “Pre-Fair Preview” or whatever it was called. Knoxville and area residents were invited to the Fair site to walk around, get to know the layout, etc before it actually opened. Of course, to a 14-yr-old I thought they were just being nice but I’m sure it was more to help generate some opening week publicity. Imagine all those ladies coming home that evening after walking around the park and calling their sister Mabel in Vonore, “No, don’t go to Opryland this weekend - come here and see the opening of the World’s Fair! Afterwards George’ll throw on some hot dogs and the kids can run through the sprinkler…” It was a good idea.

Former US Rep. Kenneth Gray of Illinois bought the World’s Fair Energy Express train years ago and is now selling it on Ebay:

After the Knoxville International Energy Exhibition closed, Gray spent more than $150,000 on the Chinese, Egyptian and Philippines pavilions, the Federal Express theater, the front gate and the fair’s $375,000 train, the Energy Express.

..

But Gray, now 82, recently suffered a stroke. Now he can’t see himself driving the train to town for any more holiday displays. So he is selling it.

Interestingly, Rep. Gray left a comment on a recent post offering to sell me the train at what he says was his cost of $50,100:

I was there in 1982 at the World’s Fair and was do enthralledwith the World’s Fair Energy Express Train that I bought it at the end of the Fair along with some of the buildings.
I have had the train stored for all of these years with the exception of loaning it to our park during Christmas for the light expo.
I bought the train for $50,100.00 and will be wiilling to sell it back to you at no profit. if you are interested, call me at…

There is a phone number after that point, but I never called it - nor is there an email address attached the the name so I have no way of knowing if this was really him or not. But since it was commented weeks before this article, I have no reason to think anyone would hoax it or even know about it.

Well, if someone buys it for close to the asking price of $200,000 on Ebay, I’ll kick myself for passing up a $149,900 profit…

On another note, it says he also bought the Federal Express Pavilion at the same time he bought the train. I’d love to set that baby up in my back yard.

I wonder if it still has the movie(s) that ran in it? I must have watched those shows 100 times during the run of the fair - it was far and away my favorite pavilion during the fair. The music and images were memorable - I still remember some of the words to the songs, and for 1982 the laser shows (inside and outside) were spectacular. What I wouldn’t give to have a copy of that show on DVD….

*sigh*

Chris runs another 25th Anniversary site at http://www.1982worldsfair.com/

Be sure and visit his site too!  Every little bit helps, and we need all the publicity for a 25th Anniversary celebration of the 1982 World’s Fair that we can get.

I’d like to hear your stories and memories of the 1982 World’s Fair, good or bad.

Send them to me via email or add to comments - I want to hear from you!

Spread the Word!

Here’s one - I’ll make others as I have the time.

Thank you for your interest in commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville, TN.

Financial scandals and UT National Championships aside, the 1982 World’s Fair was the biggest thing to happen to Knoxville in the 20th Century and deserves to be remembered and honored by the city and all that visited and participated.

My hope is that this website will provide a rallying point, a reference site and an inspiration to those who lived her in Knoxville in 1982 and found the World’s Fair something of value. Something to be remembered and cherished and viewed with affection and appreciation.

Not only did the world come to our door in 1982, so did our neighbors and friends.  And as such we made new friends and created many, many new memories.  I know there are plenty of opportunities out there to plan a celebration on May 1, 2007 to rival no other in the last 25 years in Knoxville - all we need is you!

Tell your friends, tell your City Councilmen and County Commissioners.  Tell your mayor(s).  And not just in Knoxville/Knox County - the World’s Fair belonged to all of East Tennessee, the Southeast, the whole U.S.A. and the world.  Tell them all, and let’s remember.

You’ve got to be there!