 The 1982 World's Fair logo. The 1982 World's Fair was held in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the United States. The theme of the exposition was "Energy Turns the World." It opened on May 1, 1982, and closed on October 31, 1982 after receiving over 11 million visitors. Participating nations included Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, United States, and West Germany, though Panama never occupied its pavilion space, which was eventually occupied by a group of Caribbean Island nations. Also, a TV station was built just for the fair, KM2XKA on Channel 7 with World's Fair info for Knoxville viewers. Today it belongs to DTV-only WMAK, a independent station. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Nickname: Location within the U.S. State of Tennessee. ...
Official language(s) English Capital Nashville Largest city Memphis Largest metro area Nashville Metropolitan Area Area Ranked 36th - Total 42,169 sq mi (109,247 km²) - Width 120 miles (195 km) - Length 440 miles (710 km) - % water 2. ...
is the 121st day of the year (122nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ...
is the 304th day of the year (305th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ...
WMAK-DT channel 7 is a digital television station serving the Knoxville, Tennessee area. ...
The fair was constructed on a 70 acre site between downtown Knoxville and the University of Tennessee. The Sunsphere, a 266-foot steel tower topped with a five-story bronze globe, was built for the 1982 World's Fair. It still stands and remains a symbol for the city of Knoxville. The University of Tennessee (UT), sometimes called the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UT Knoxville or UTK), is the flagship institution of the statewide land-grant University of Tennessee public university system in the American state of Tennessee. ...
The Sunsphere is an 81. ...
Nickname: Location within the U.S. State of Tennessee. ...
In 2007, the East Tennessee Historical Society opened an exhibit commemorating the 25th anniversary of the World's Fair. The East Tennessee Historical Society (ETHS), located in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study of East Tennessee history, the preservation of historically significant artifacts, and educating the citizens of Tennessee. ...
World's Fair Early Years
 The Sunsphere at the center of the Fair The idea for a World's Fair in Knoxville came from a visit to Spokane, Washington in 1974 that touted the benefits of the Expo for the city. Stewart Evans, president of the Downtown Knoxville association came up with the idea. He brought it to the city and the mayor. Sunsphere, Knoxville TN - used by permission File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Sunsphere, Knoxville TN - used by permission File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Worlds Fair is any of various large expositions held since the mid-19th century. ...
Knoxville Mayor Kyle Testerman appointed banker Jake Butcher to lead an exploratory committee on the fair, and Butcher served as the driving force behind the fair. Many Knoxvillians called it "Jake's Fair."[1] Kyle C. Testerman (b. ...
Jacob Franklin Butcher (sometimes called Jake) (1936 - ) was an American banker. ...
This was the second World's Fair to be held in the state, the first being the Tennessee Centennial Exposition of 1897. The Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition was a Worlds Fair staged between May 1 and October 31 of 1897 in Nashville. ...
Opening Day On 1 May 1982, the 1982 World's Fair opened with the Theme "Energy Turns the World". Across the United States, people had been bombarded with commercials: "You've Got To Be There" became the call for people to journey that summer to Tennessee. The opening ceremony was broadcast on local and regional TV, with President Ronald Reagan arriving to open the fair. TV personality Dinah Shore was the mistress of ceremonies, and artists like Porter Wagoner and Ricky Scaggs performed as the gates were opened on Knoxville's Fair. Reagan redirects here. ...
Dinah Shore (born Frances Rose Shore February 29, 1916 - February 24, 1994) was an American singer and actress. ...
Porter Wayne Wagoner (August 12, 1927 – October 28, 2007) was an American country music singer. ...
Ricky Scaggs (born Richard Scaglione, September 4, 1957 in Yonkers, New York, USA) is an American punk rock bassist. ...
180 Days of Fun The fair drew over 11 million visitors, making it one of the most popular world's fairs in U.S. history, and even turned a small profit ($57), but short of the projected $5 million surplus. [2]
The most popular exhibits at the fair were those by China, Peru and Egypt. The Peruvian exhibit featured a mummy which was unwrapped and studied at the fair. The Egyptian exhibit featured ancient artifacts valued at over thirty million dollars.[3]
Difficulties with the Fair The biggest problem associated with the fair was that local hotels and other accommodations were not allowed to directly take reservations for rooms during the fair. Room reservations for everything from hotels to houseboats sold in a package with fair admission tickets through the first 11 days of the fair were handled by a central bureau, Knoxvisit, but financial and administrative troubles pushed reservations to be taken over by PLM[4], which itself filed for bankruptcy[5] and was mired in its own difficulties[6].
After the fair In 1991, the city of Knoxville demolished the U.S. Pavilion in a controlled blast. The cleared site became a parking lot along Cumberland Avenue. The former site of the Korean and Saudi Arabian pavilions and the Tennessee Gas Industries exhibit became host to a regular concert series for eight years.
In 2000, the park was closed for two years while a convention center was added in the space formerly occupied by Rich's/Millers Garage, the KUB Substation and the former site of America's Electric Energy Exhibit.
In 2002, the World's Fair Park was reopened to general events and concerts, such as Earth Fest and Greek Fest. A Greek festival or Greek Fest is an annual celebration of Greek culture presented by many ethnic-Greek communities and organization in the United States and Canada, particularly Greek Orthodox churches. ...
The fair in popular culture The fair was mentioned twice in The Simpsons. In the 1993 episode "Cape Feare," Homer smokes a Knoxville World's Fair cigar in the movie theatre. On the Season 5 audio commentary for this episode, showrunner Al Jean comments that 1982 was a terrible world's fair. In the episode entitled "Bart on the Road," Bart, Milhouse, Nelson and Martin take a trip to Knoxville under the belief that the World's Fair is still in progress (they choose Knoxville over Disney World). They arrive at the site of the World's Fair to find the Sunsphere now being used as a storage for wigs. Subsequently, Nelson manages to knock it over by throwing a rock at it. It falls on the car they used to drive to Knoxville and flattens it. Later, as they walk off to find a way to get enough money to get home, Bart says "Everybody remember - we're parked under the Sunsphere." Simpsons redirects here. ...
Cape Feare is the second episode of The Simpsons fifth season, which premiered on the Fox network on October 7, 1993 after being held over from season four. ...
Homer Simpson is also a character in the book and film The Day of the Locust. ...
Al Jean is a TV comedy writer most known for his work on The Simpsons. ...
Bart on the Road is the twentieth episode of The Simpsons seventh season. ...
For the comic book series of the same name, see Bart Simpson comics. ...
Milhouse Mussolini Van Houten is a fictional character featured in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Pamela Hayden. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
Martin Prince, Jr. ...
Cinderella Castle, at the center of the Magic Kingdom, is Walt Disney World Resorts most recognizable icon Introduction Owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company, the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, USA is home to four theme parks, three water parks, several resort hotels and golf courses...
 The 1982 World's Fair token back. Seven arcade tokens were minted for the 1982 World's Fair, each with a different arcade game gracing its face. These tokens were given out at the arcade at the World's Fair itself. The seven games on each of the tokens are Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Qix, Gorf, Scramble, and Donkey Kong. Each of these games was very popular at the time. A special Coke pin given to 500 dignitaries on opening day is the most prized pin from the fair. Image File history File linksMetadata 82worldsfair_tokenback. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata 82worldsfair_tokenback. ...
Pac-Man is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution by Midway Games in 1979. ...
Ms. ...
Space Invaders ) is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado in 1978. ...
Qix (pronounced kiks) is an arcade game, released by Taito America Corporation in 1981. ...
Gorf is an arcade game released in 1981 by Midway Mfg. ...
Scramble ) is a 1981 horizontally scrolling shoot em up, arcade game. ...
For the Game Boy game, see Donkey Kong (Game Boy). ...
New Inventions The Knoxville World's Fair debuted several new inventions, including touch screen monitors, boxed milk, the Cherry Coke flavor by Coca-Cola. Petro's also debuted at the 1982 World's Fair. [7] The wave shape (known as the dynamic ribbon device) present on all Coca-Cola cans throughout the world derives from the contour of the original Coca-Cola bottles. ...
Petros Chili & Chips is a fast-food chain specialising in the Petro, a mixture of corn chips, chili, cheese, green onions, tomatoes, and sour cream. ...
See also Worlds Fair is any of various large expositions held since the mid-19th century. ...
The Sunsphere is an 81. ...
The East Tennessee Historical Society (ETHS), located in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study of East Tennessee history, the preservation of historically significant artifacts, and educating the citizens of Tennessee. ...
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