FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com may 22, 2014 • The Queens Courier 39 Queens Botanical Garden Hosts Model Train Show to Celebrate Locomotion at 1964 World’s Fair All aboard! The World’s Fair Train Show will pull into the Queens Botanical Garden station over Memorial Day Weekend. Thanks to the Long Island Garden Railway Society, this three-day exhibit will feature fully functional “G” scale model trains traveling a track around a scaled-down Unisphere and other iconic features from the 1964 World’s Fair. A replica of The General, a Civil War locomotive that dazzled at the 1964 Fair, will make the rounds along with other period trains. Opening Day, Saturday, May 24, will be especially festive with food vendors, face painting, games, and “trackless train” rides (additional fee applies). Then at 4 p.m., John Yao & His 17-Piece Instrument will perform on QBG’s outdoor concert stage. A graduate of the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, Yao is a composer, trombonist, and arranger specializing in jazz fusion. The performance is co-sponsored by the Kupferberg Center for the Arts. After the Saturday extravaganza, the model trains will operate from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the next two days. Check them out free with admission to the 39-acre Flushing green space. QBG actually dates back to the 1939 Fair, when it was an exhibit called “Gardens on Parade” and it was located in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The show consisted of about 50 displays of everything from a rock garden to a mini tropical forest. After the 1939 Fair, the Queens Botanical Garden Society Inc. was formed to look after the plot. QBG moved to its current location before the 1964 Fair because the organizers needed the space for pavilions. The LIGRS is a proponent of “Garden Railroading,” which is sometimes described as the marriage of model railroading and gardening. The nonprofit points out that trains were an integral part of the World’s Fairs, with millions of guests commuting there by LIRR and the 7 train. “I have wonderful memories from the ’64 Fair, and I would think most feel the same who were there,” said LIGRS President Danny Saporito. “This is real local history both 50 and 75 years. I think the community would want to promote the anniversary, John Yao & His 17-Piece Instrument will perform on QBG’s outdoor concert stage. and I hope they do.” This article is part of a series by the Queens Tourism Council that will run periodically until October in commemoration of the 75th and 50th anniversaries of the 1939 and 1964 World’s Fairs, which took place in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. For more information, go to www.itsinqueens. com/worldsfair. MORE WORLD’S FAIR FUN THE COURIER/Photos by Liam La Guerre
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