1984 Louisiana World Exposition

EXPO New Orleans, Louisiana 1984
Space Shuttle Enterprise at 1984 World Fair New Orleans
Overview
BIE-class	Specialized exposition
Category	International specialized exposition
Name	Louisiana World Exposition
Motto	World Of Rivers
Area	34 hectares (84 acres)
Visitors	7,335,279
Organized by	Ralph Perlman
Participant(s)
Countries	95
Location
Country	United States
City	New Orleans, Louisiana
Coordinates	29°56′40″N 90°03′45″W / 29.94444°N 90.06250°W / 29.94444; -90.06250
Timeline
Opening	May 12, 1984 (1984-05-12)
Closure	November 11, 1984 (1984-11-11)
Specialized expositions
Previous	1982 World's Fair in Knoxville
Next	Expo '85 in Tsukuba
Universal expositions
Previous	Expo '70 in Osaka
Next	Seville Expo '92 in Seville
Horticultural expositions
Previous	International Garden Expo 83 in Munich
Next	Expo '90 in Osaka
Simultaneous
Horticultural (AIPH)	International Garden Festival

The 1984 Louisiana World Exposition was a World's Fair held in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the United States. It was held 100 years after the city's earlier World's Fair, the World Cotton Centennial in 1884. It opened on Saturday, May 12, 1984, and ended on Sunday, November 11, 1984.^[1] Its theme was "The World of Rivers—Fresh Waters as a Source of Life".

Plagued with attendance problems, the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition has the distinction of being the only exposition to declare bankruptcy during its run.^[2] Many blamed the low attendance on the fact that it was staged just two years and two states from Knoxville's 1982 World's Fair,^[2] and because it coincided with the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Others may believe that the 1982 opening of Walt Disney World's EPCOT Center may have also drawn more people to Orlando, Florida.

This expo also had the distinction of being the very first World Exposition in the history of expos to have an official fair mascot. Seymore D. Fair, a large white costume pelican, became one of the most recognizable figures of any modern day World Exposition.

Seymore D. Fair

There has not been a World's Fair in the United States since the exposition in New Orleans.

The Fair

The state of Louisiana spent $5 million on the fair; that amount was overseen by Ralph Perlman, the state budget director, who tried to obtain maximum use of the funds.^[3] An 84-acre (340,000 m²) site along the Mississippi River was cleared of rundown warehouses, replaced by the structures of the Fair. This was to be a "Class B" exposition as defined by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), the international body governing world's fairs. There were no major exhibits such as had been seen at the 1964-65 New York World's Fair, which started predictions that the fair could be a flop. Although 7 million guests^[2] toured the fair, it was not enough to recoup the $350 million spent to host the event. Paychecks started bouncing, and it was only through government intervention that the gates remained open through the scheduled run. The fair drew 30,000 fewer people in the first month than was predicted.^[4] One of the fair's more famous attractions was the Mississippi Aerial River Transit (MART). This was a gondola lift that took visitors across the Mississippi River from the fair site in the Warehouse District to Algiers on the West Bank. Also on display was the space shuttle Enterprise.

The Fair was held along the Mississippi River front near the New Orleans Central Business District, on a site that was formerly a railroad yard. While the Fair itself was a financial failure, several old warehouses were renovated for the fair, which helped to revitalize the adjacent Old Warehouse District. The fair suffered from poor attendance, but many New Orleanians have fond memories of their fair experiences. Highlights included a monorail, a gondola across the Mississippi River, an aquacade, an amphitheater for concerts, the Wonderwall, and the mascot Seymore D. Fair (also commonly spelled Seymour D' Fair). There also were many dining choices, including the Italian Village, the Japanese Pavilion and Pete Fountain's Reunion Hall.

The USS Lexington AVT 16 visited the fair and was open for tourist visits while much of the crew enjoyed liberty.

Legacy

Some traces of the fair remain today. In the Warehouse District, many of the streets were improved and many old buildings were renovated for businesses that hoped to cater to fair guests. These buildings later were converted to commercial and residential uses. These improvements paved the way for the city's arts district seen today.

The Riverwalk Marketplace and the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center is perhaps the fair's greatest legacy. The exhibition hall of the convention center was the fair's Louisiana Pavilion, it later reopened as a convention center in 1985. Next to the convention center on the corner of Tchoupitoulas and Henderson streets is a steel and fiberglass bust of Neptune and the head of one of his alligators. At the fair, the statues of Neptune, a mermaid and some alligators surrounding them made up Bridge Gate, one of the entrances to the fair. Most other structures and the MART were demolished after the fair closed. The monorails were moved to Florida and re-used at Zoo Miami.^[5] Despite its problems, the fair is fondly remembered by many New Orleans residents, particularly for its noteworthy post-modern architecture, such as the groundbreaking Wonderwall designed by noted architect Charles Willard Moore and his partner William Turnbull.

On November 11, 2014, on the Fair's 30th Anniversary, a large bronze commemorative plaque was unveiled at the corner of Julia Street and Convention Center Boulevard, the heart of the world fair site.

Gallery

Main entrance
Worlds Fair New Orleans troll and child

Notes

↑ Pelle, Findling. "New Orleans 1984". Encyclopedia of World's Fairs and Expositions. p. 361. ISBN 978-0-7864-3416-9.
1 2 3 Pelle, Findling. "New Orleans 1984". Encyclopedia of World's Fairs and Expositions. p. 360. ISBN 978-0-7864-3416-9. The insolvency of the 1984 World's Fair owner, Louisiana World Exposition, Inc., caused some subcontractors involved in the construction of the fair to sue the general contractor for payment of contract prices. Southern States Masonry, Inc. v. J.A. Jones Const. Co., 507 So.2d 198 (La. 1987). Even though there was a clause in the contract stating the subcontractors would be paid on the final payment by the owner to the general contractor, the payment provision did not constitute a suspensive condition that negated any obligation on the part of the general contractor until they were paid by the owner. The important issue was that the contract stated payment would occur "when" the general contractor was paid, not "if" they were paid.
↑ "Ralph Perlman". Baton Rouge Morning Advocate. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
↑ Cotter, Bill (2008). The 1984 World's Fair. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. p. 120. ISBN 0-7385-6856-2.
↑ Cotter, Bill, The 1984 New Orleans World's Fair, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina, 2008, p.120. ISBN 0-7385-6856-2

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1984 Louisiana World Exposition.

List of world expositions

Retrospectively
recognized
Expositions

BIE recognized
Universal
Expositions

BIE recognized
Specialized
Expositions

BIE recognized
horticultural
Exhibitions (AIPH)

Canceled

Rome 1942
Chicago 1992
Vienna & Budapest 1995
Metro Manila 2002
Seine Saint Denis 2004

Not BIE recognized

Asia	Nanyang 1910 Hangzhou 1929 Nagoya 1937 Shenyang 2006
Oceania	Melbourne 1866 Sydney 1870 Melbourne 1875 Brisbane 1876 Sydney 1879 Dunedin 1889 Christchurch 1906 Auckland 1913–14 Dunedin 1925 Wellington 1939–40
Europe	London 1756 Dublin 1853 Manchester 1857 Porto 1865 London 1871–74 Vienna 1873 Amsterdam 1883 Liverpool 1886 London 1886 Copenhagen 1888 Glasgow 1888 Frankfurt 1891 Prague 1891 Lyon 1894 Oporto 1894 Berlin 1896 Glasgow 1901 Cork 1902 Hanoi 1902 London 1905 London 1906 Marseille 1906 Dublin 1907 London 1908 Zaragoza 1908 London 1910 Dresden 1911 London 1911 London 1912 Lyon 1914 Cologne 1914 London 1914 Kristiania 1914 Malmö 1914 Semarang 1914 London 1921 Marseille 1922 British Empire Exhibition (1924–25) Antwerp 1930 Stockholm 1930 Paris 1931 Porto 1934 Glasgow 1938
North America	New York City 1826–1897 Bryant Park, New York City 1853 Atlanta 1881 Louisville 1883–87 New Orleans 1884 Atlanta 1887 San Francisco 1894 Atlanta 1895 Nashville 1897 Omaha 1898 Buffalo 1901 Charleston 1901–02 Portland, Oregon 1905 Jamestown 1907 Seattle 1909 Knoxville 1913 San Diego 1915–17 Bronx 1918 Philadelphia 1926 San Diego 1935–36 Dallas 1936 Cleveland 1936–37 Dallas 1937 San Francisco 1939–40 New York City 1964–65
South America	Buenos Aires 1910 Rio de Janeiro 1922

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