Last November, the authors of the World 's Fair 50th anniversary book visited the Sunset Hill Community Club, allowing the audience to revisit the legacy of Seattle World's Fair.

Next week authors Paula Becker and Alan J. Stein will return to Ballard to present a slideshow and share your stories about the book, The Future Remembered: The 1962 Seattle World's Fair and Its Legacy in celebration of the fair’s 50th anniversary.

The event will take place February 23 from 6:30 p.m. till 8 p.m. at the Ballard Branch of the Seattle Public Library, 5614 22nd Avenue NW.

Century 21 Exposition revisited
2011-11-10
By Chris Foster, Intern

The Ballard Historical Society hosted authors Paula Becker and Alan J. Stein of the celebrated “The Future Remembered: The 1962 Seattle World’s Fair and Its Legacy" book at the Sunset Hill Community Clubhouse on Wednesday, Nov 9.

The authors gave a presentation featuring many interesting facts, stories, and photos about the legacy of the World's Fair.

Becker and Stein, who are also staff historians for Historylink.org, began by explaining how the ’62 fair came to be.

Originally, it was supposed to be a 50-year anniversary of the 1909 Alaska-Yukon Pacific Exposition. When Cold War tensions reached a high after the launch of the Sputnik satellite, the country’s priorities changed and education became the forefront. In order to gain federal funding for the fair, Sen. Warren Magnuson decided to change the theme from celebrating the past to a glimpse into the future.

The fair gained local support by promising Seattle a civic center. This led to the construction of the majority of what is now the Seattle Center, including the Space Needle.

“It was a civic center, disguised as a world fair,” Stein said.

A landmark moment occurred when the Space Needle was featured on the cover of “Life Magazine”.

“It was like a civic thermometer,” Becker added. “The Space Needle let people know something special was going on.”

The fair featured many different attractions such as a NASA exhibit, science demonstrations at the Science Center and dining in the Space Needle. The presentation included a photo of one of the menus from the Space Needle.

“You could get a filet mignon for $5.75,” Stein pointed out.

There was also a wide variety of entertainment. “Tommy Bartlett’s Water Show,” featured water-skiers performing tricks on a water track at Memorial stadium. Canadian Tattoo, a drill team consisting of soldiers, bagpipers and horsemen, was also a popular draw. One of the more surprising acts, however, was “Les Poupees de Paris”, an adult marionette show put on by Sid and Marty Krofft.

Many celebrities made the trip to Seattle for the fair. The list includes Elvis Pressley, Richard Nixon and John Glenn. For a short period of time, the actual ship that John Glenn orbited the planet in was at the fair as well.

At the end of the night, members of the audience were asked to share any memories they had of the fair. One man, who was an usher at the Opera House in 1962, pointed out that President John F. Kennedy was supposed to attend the closing days of the fair but cancelled due to a cold. A day after the president’s cancellation was the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Another member of the audience, Dean Nissen, brought in some artifacts from the fair he had collected. One souvenir in particular was the original art of the fair’s symbol, created by Robert Matthiesen.

Becker and Stein held a book signing after the event, but for those who couldn’t make it, the book can be found at various book stores like the Secret Garden Books and the University bookstore, as well as online at Amazon.

Anyone with memories from the ’62 fair they’d like to share can do so at http://www.thenextfifty.org/.