FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com may 8, 2014 • The Queens Courier 35 Readers share their World’s Fair memories BY KATRINA MEDOFF In anticipation of NYC Parks’ World’s Fair Anniversary Festival, which will be held in Flushing Meadows Corona Park on Sunday, May 18, readers of The Queens Courier have been sharing their World’s Fair memories and memorabilia with us. The Parker Pen Pavilion was “rather a small thing,” said Claire Bazinet, who was about 26 when she visited the 1964-65 World’s Fair, which might be why she’s the first of our readers to mention the pavilion in her memories. The theme of the pavilion was “Peace through Understanding … through Writing,” according to nywf64.com. “You would go to the Parker Pen Pavilion, sign up, and — I think — select the country you wanted to have a pen pal in. I picked Ireland,” Bazinet said. “I don’t know why.” People around the world had signed up to become pen pals with World’s Fair visitors, she said, and Bazinet left the fair with a pen pal from around Dublin, with whom she still exchanges holiday cards. “Her family has grown up,” Bazinet said of the correspondence she’s had with her pen pal for the past half-century. “I haven’t had children — so time hasn’t passed for me!” Bazinet, who moved to Flushing in 1978, visited the New York State Pavilion for its opening on April 22, although the line was too long for her to go inside. “I’m trying to save the pavilion,” she said. “I just love the place. I love that it has a map on it.” Bazinet grew up in Massachusetts and, after two years in the army, moved to the city around 1959. “My mother used to bring me to New York City as a child and I fell in love with it,” she said. Just a few years after Bazinet became a New Yorker, she was able to share the World’s Fair experience with her mother. Bazinet recalls the Belgian waffles, but “I was really flabbergasted by the birch beer,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s because I used to get it at home as a kid. You don’t see it very often in stores, so I thought, ‘Oh! They have birch beer here!’ even more than the Belgian waffles.” Walt Disney Co.’s It’s a Small World certainly stuck with Bazinet: “It’s been 50 years Photo courtesy of Claire Bazinet Claire Bazinet poses for a photo at the April 22 opening of New York State Pavilion. of thinking of that song — once it gets in your head, you can’t get it out!” A Glimpse into the Fair: The Parker International Penfriend Program “At the Fair, Parker inaugurates the biggest international letter-writing program ever conducted. People of all nations, of all ages and interests, will be matched by means of an electronic computer housed in the Parker Pavilion. The computer is a major exhibit in the crisply modern Parker Pavilion located on the rim of the Pool of Industry with its spectacular Fountain of the Planets. “Visitors to the Pavilion simply indicate their special interest, where they would like to write and in what language. Within seconds, the computer selects a name and the visitor is given a personal Penfriend whose age and interest are similar to his. Correspondence between Penfriends gets started right at the Parker Pavilion, thanks to the special correspondence forms which are automatically addressed by the computer. Visitors are invited to one of the many comfortable writing stations where they can add a personal note to their new Penfriends, with a Parker pen, of course! With his first letter in the mail, the visitor can relax in the Parker Pavilion while writing postcards to friends and relatives back home.” Source: Parker Pen Pavilion Promotional Brochure, published on nywf64.com WORLD’S FAIR SUBMISSIONS CALL Did you or someone you know attend the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair at Flushing Meadows Corona Park? If yes, The Queens Courier is asking you to share your memorabilia and/or memories with us to commemorate the event’s 50th anniversary. You could win a dinner for two. Please email your entries to [email protected] with the subject line “World’s Fair Anniversary” or mail your entries to Editorial, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. Note: All photos/items become property of The Queens Courier.
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