The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1894-03-09
THE WIDWINTER FAIR.
From Our Special Correspondents
Point of View.

Point of View.
One by one the great attractions
promised for the California Mid
winter International Exposition
are assuming shape The more one
sees of it, the more stupendous the
project seems. When the idea was
first preached, there were very few
who thought the scheme Of the
soriginators would ever be realized !;
but, thanks to energy and perse-
verence, it, / think, has been more
than realized. When one gees the
great number of beautiful buildings
and surroundings, it can hardly be
realized that it has all been done
In so short a time-something less
than nine months-for the first in
.ception.
The first event, of course, was
the breaking of ground August "a,
1898. Then followed the labor of
grading and leveling, and then the
building. 1t was expected to open
by the LIST January, 1894, but it
was soon found that it would be
better to defer this for a time, so
January q, 1894, was decided
upon. The formal opening occurred
upon this date, and great day it
was for all California. Somewhere
in The neighborhood of 10000 peo-
pie visited the grounds at that
time, and were we'll satisfied with
the result of their visit. Since the
opening work has been continued
steadily until it is practically fin
ished. The great electric tower,
with its powerful search light, is
now in place.
The electric fountain with its
multitudinous colored lights; the
allegorical fountain, a great piece
of sculpture, is in place ip front of
the administrator Building. The
Firth wheel, although not of such
gigantic proportions as the oHe in
Chicago, looms up quite distinctly
from all parts of the grounds. The
Chinese Building is now open to
visitors at all times, besides, all the
numerous concessions are now in
shape. The village, with its pic
turesque inhabitants, and the cy-
clorama of the crater of Kilauea
afford instruction and amusement
to hundreds every day. The sing
ing of the native Hawaiian songs
is a great attraction at all times.
The ambulance service is now COM
plete and giving good satisfaction,
as does also the emergency hos
pital service.
One of the first events of note
was the Good Templars' Day, Feb.
18th, which was celebrated with
general good time to all present.
This was followed by several State
and county days, as North Dakota,
Idaho, Southern California, Santa
Cruz and others, all well patronized
and generally enjoyed.
Washington's birthday, however,
was more generally observed, and
great preparations had been made
for it. 1t is needless to say that it
was thoroughly we'll carried out.
Nearly $4,000 persons passed
through the gates during the day
and evening and were all well
pleased with their entertainment
by the Exposition management.
Children's day was also well pat
ronized, over 10000 children being
on the grounds during the day.
Everything possible was done by
the management for their enter
and it will long be re-
membered by the youngsters as an
event in their lives.
These events will be continued
during the entire time of the Ex-
position, and if the future events
are looked after as the past have
been the public can have no cause
of complaint for lack of entertain
ment. FRISCO.