Port of Halifax Marine and Industrial Exhibition, 1948
Original program kindly loaned for scanning by the Halifax Public Library.
Over six days in November 1948, twenty-five thousand Nova Scotians flocked to the Armouries to view the marvels displayed at the Marine and Industrial Exhibition put on by the Port of Halifax.
View a digital copy of the 1948 souvenir booklet which includes the program, list of exhibitors, descriptions of the Port of Halifax and the Club's plans for its future, and lots of 1940s advertising.
Post-WWII, Haligonians were keen for some civic boosterism; the Nova Scotia Provincial Exhibition had discontinued in the early 1940s. The 1948 fair was a welcome distraction. The Port of Halifax fair was held again in 1949, as the city geared up for its Bicentenary.
The Exhibition was a big extravaganza to promote the Port of Halifax and show citizens the extent that city business was directly connected with the Port.
Industries exhibited at the Fair. Photograph by Knickle Studios, Lunenburg (CR40-1-3)
(CR40-1-4)
The images above show some of the Exhibition displays. Emerging from post-war hardships, the public was dazzled by displays of labour-saving devices. A draw for the Grand Prize of "a magnificent Canadian General Electric Refrigerator completely stocked with foods" was held on the final night.
The working model of the Harbour, pictured above, was created by T.B. Taylor of Halifax Shipyards Ltd., who won the best exhibit award. The massive model included a proposed draw-bridge spanning the harbour. Bridge construction would start a few years later. The Angus L. MacDonald Bridge opened in 1955. Its namesake was present at the Exhibition...
Celebrity Visitors
Popular Premier Angus L. MacDonald was joined by other celebrity visitors to the exhibit, including Lt. Gov. J.A.D. McCurdy, Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent, "Miss Canada" Betty Jean Ferguson and "Hollywood star" Ronald Reagan, who received gifts from both Halifax Mayor J.E. Ahern and Dartmouth Mayor A.C. Pettipas.
Graham Lavers donation:
These images are from a donation to the Halifax Municipal Archives by freelance photographer Graham Lavers (CR 40 Graham Lavers' photograph collection). Lavers' father, George was hired by the Port of Halifax Club to organize the 1948 fair. The many news clippings that are part of the donation describe an exciting fair that was the talk-of-the-town.
George Lavers created a community event:
George Lavers got much of the city involved in and excited about the Exhibition. Local organizations and charities such as the Cornwallis St. Baptist Church choirs, Dartmouth Lions Club, the Ladies’ Auxiliary and the Nova Scotia Association for the Improvement of Coloured People offered nightly entertainment, games, and refreshments as fundraisers.
The St. Joseph's and Protestant orphanages came on special day-time field-trips and George Lavers personally offered a running descriptive commentary of the displays to students from the Halifax School for the Blind.
Thank-you to Graham Lavers for donating this interesting material (and his many other photos of Halifax events), and to Spring Garden Road Memorial Library for facilitating the inclusion of their Souvenir Program in this exhibit.