The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1934-06-15

RECORD CROWD
SEES new FAIR
Street of Villages Gets Big
Play; Lights All
New.

saw the new Worlds Fair here on its
crowd of 154.663 Saturday. May %
surpassed last years opening day fig
ure by 34,9SS. The following days
crowd of 81 ,241 was greater by 2S.557
than the same day in 1893.
President Roosevelt, through the me-
dunn of motion picture shown at sew
eral points ON the grounds. officially
opened the Exposition. AS he closed
an electric switch the new lights
blazed forth for the first time.
Visitors were surprised to find the
Fair complete, and fully uI to the
promises made that it would be new.
Lights Trace Sky Ride.
Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, first
lady of the land. inaugurated the out
standing new feature. the worlds larg.
est fountain. Like the President, she
appeared in a motion picture. At a
magical wave of her hand. the giant
waterspouts rose from the north la
COON, livened by play of coloret light
Lighting, the most talked-of thing
about the 1898 Fair revealed wonders
never approached on the 1894 opening
night. Coordination of lighting and
color we're more in evidence. Under
the lights the new Century of Progress
purple-red. theme color of the new lex.
position. presented glowing beauty
that was different. Buildings, grouped
with respect t. color in light as well
as color in paint, revealed a new har-
mony.
The Sky Ride, almost lost to vision
at night formerly. greeted visitors with
all its catenary system traced against
the sky in electric light Bright red
neon tubes outlined the observation
platforms 62S feet above the Fair.
Farther south, from the rotunda of
the Ford building pillar of blue light,
200 feet thick and more than a mile
high, pierced the clouds overhead. The
lighting load of this 900-feet- long build
ing is more than one-third the total
load of the entire Fair of last year.
Foreign Villages Popular.
Aurora Borealis" of searchlights at
the north end of the grounds, compile
menting that at the south end. COM
pleted the major changes in the night
time illumination.
Mecca for the opening day throngs
was the new Street of Villages. The
tour of the world in singh day" Of
fered by the fifteen reproductions of
far-away lands in the new Fair proved
to be an idea that clicked"
Eleven of the foreign villages are
grouped together where the Midway
was in 1888 Here are an Irish vii
lage, with the atmosphere that was
known by the ancient chieftains who
met in Tara Hall; the Spanish village,
largest ever built for any Fair;
Tunisia, the Land of the Bedouins"
the Italian village, with it's leaning
tower and time-worn Roman ruins.
Free Entertainment.
Visitors saw the Tower of London
and watched Shakespeares plays pre-
scented in a reproduction of Shake
English village; saw ice-skating under
the summer sun in the German Black
Forest Village; saw Old North Church.
Mount Vernon, and the home of Paul
Revere in the American Colonial vii
alge; relaxed in the luxury of North
African desert village in the Oasis;
thrilled to the charm of native folk
dances in the lovely Belgian village,
and entered the gaiety of Montmartre
in the Streets of Paris.
Elsewhere on the grounds they
found Dutch village, Mexican vii
lage, a Swiss village, and the Streets
of Shanghai.
Free entertainment projects CAUGHT
big crowds. Among them were the
concerts on the Swift bridge, the spec
tacuar lion and tiger show in the
Standard Oh amphitheater, the cir
cuses of the Lagoon theater, the seem
ing miracles performed in the Science
theater and the many shows present
ed by exhibitors in the various exhibit
buildings
FdlT bSLtCT r1OSI.
Opening day throngs found that no
exhibits remaining from last year were
unchanged. Animation has been add
ed everywhere. The Ford "exposi-
tion," altogether new, is world of
motion, showing the manufacture of
virtually every part that goes into a
motor car. Armour and compan. and
Wilson and company, packers. have
done much the same with their ex
hihlts: so have the Continent: Bak
ing company. Hiram Walker. the Brook
Lin Dairy farm and others new to A
Century of Progress.
Perhaps most importan' of all, Wis
itors found the new Fair better host
Eighty per cent Of the toilets are free,
transportation and restaurant prices
are lower and there are more free
resting places for the weary, most of
them where free entertainment is in
progress.