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Description
The World's Columbian Exposition was financially immensely successful. By October, attendance had reached over 6.8 million paid visitors--doubling August's 3.5 million. Chicago Day (October 9) alone saw 716,881 Fairgoers entering the White City. The concession stands brought in over $4 million and when all the calculations were complete, the Exposition itself more than broke even, with a $1 million surplus to be returned to its 30,000 stockholders. No exposition in the nineteenth century could boast such success, and the World's Columbian Exposition became the standard by which all future fairs were measured. The cultural and entertainment impact of the Fair was pervasive in 1893--from stories and jokes to songs and cartoons, the Exposition was everywhere. The cultural legacy of the Fair is not quite as obvious, but still as pervasive, today, coloring every aspect of daily modern life--from museums to the Pledge of Allegiance to hamburgers and Disney World. The Columbian Exposition was the venue for the debut of consumer products which are so familiar today--including Cream of Wheat, Shredded Wheat, Pabst Beer, Aunt Jemima syrup, and Juicy Fruit gum. The Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building was a showcase for American products, and showed them to advantage. To debut at the Fair, and possibly win a Columbian medal in product competitions, was a perfect way to win product recognition and a boon for the advertising department--advertisements in the months following the Fair prominently displayed ribbons and proudly pointed out, for example that this product was, "1st place, Bicycle Division." The Fair also introduced picture postcards to the American public, as well as two staples of the late-twentieth century diet--carbonated soda and hamburgers. But it was not merely the Fair's product introductions which have had an impact on the face of modern America. The Exposition provided the United States with a new holiday, Columbus Day, and a new method of inculcating patriotism in schoolchildren-- the Pledge of Allegiance. T.J. Mellen from Beaumont, won the Dried Fruit Award, no minor accomplishment for the size and scope of the World's Columbia Exposition!
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