One proud tradition of World’s Fairs is a area where the national flag of every participating nation is proudly displayed.

In August of 2012 I had the pleasure of corresponding by e-mail with Charles Snyder who was the Head of the Special Events Dept. for San Antonio Fair, Inc. below are his memories about the plaza:

“Before the Fair, I found myself spending time looking over the shoulders of the planning staff, across the street in the Old German-English School building. One day I asked, ‘Where is the flag plaza going to be?’ ‘The what?’ ‘The place where the flags of all the participating nations will be flown, and the ceremonies will take place. It’s traditional.’ ‘I don’t think anyone has thought of that. We’ll get busy on it.’ We did have a flag and ceremonial plaza, with 38 flagpoles, just west of the west door to the arena. Throughout the Fair our department was responsible for the flags and their display and proper handling. My first chore each morning was to visit the plaza to check if there were any flags missing. We were plagued by souvenir hunters who liked flags. Japan, for some reason, was the most popular, so we had to keep a few extras on hand, along with a supply of HemisFair flags, which were displayed en masse in front of the headquarters on Alamo St. Annin Flag, the manufacturer in New Jersey, was on a first-name basis with us, along with Dixie Flag in San Antonio.“

Charles Snyder, 2012

One neat fact was this was acutally one of two flag plazas at the Fair, the other was located infront of the State of Texas Pavilion, which displayed flags from nations whose peoples inhabited the region.

Images

Below various images of the plaza. (Click on image for a closer look)