Quote:
Originally Posted by charlene
the stadium was but one part of the Exhibition.. it was torn down years ago and re-built as a new soccer pitch for Toronto FC..
The Toronto Blue Jays began playing at Exhibition Stadium in April '77 - in the snow..
the Toronto Argonaut football team of the CFL (Canadian Football League) played there too.. |
yeah, the 'grandstand' goes way back to the fair's 19th century beginnings (including a few rebuilds, man, so many destructive fires to those nice early structures)...I remember going there for the concerts, hell drivers, demolition derbys, muddy and snowy football, etc before they made it into the concrete nightmare by the lake, Exhibition Stadium, lol (which was our initial effort to attract the San Francisco team here)
still have my Jay opening day ticket stub from 1977...the guy I went there with as a teen is now a Jay VP ..I'm waiting til they make playoffs again before I contact him for tix...I hope he's still employed by then, lol
nearby was Maple Leaf Stadium which is where our minor league ball team played (sparky anderson, mgr)...formerly the park was on the island, Hanlan's Point, and was where the Babe hit his only minor league homer (into the lake)...useless trivia, lol
http://pages.interlog.com/~urbanism/grandstand.html
above, there is a pic of the Flyer (the wooden coaster) and the Bulova clock tower (I still call it the Shell tower / meeting place)...'wanna go faster' was that Polar Express...I went on the Zipper, probably drunk, but would never go on that double ferris wheel again, I'm still scarred!
I loved the new inventions and improved products showcased in the various buildings...I mostly hung out in the Arts, Crafts and Hobbies Bldg....yes, we have candy floss...my teeth hurt when i think of that stuff or candy apples or sponge toffee...i ate in the food building for cheap...usually spaghetti for 25 cents and a large coke for a penny...the Tiny Tom's donuts were a bit more expensive and didn't last long, lol
even when i use the Ex (during the 50 weeks when the fair's not on) as a commuting shortcut, I get nostalgic as i drive over the land where war ensued..ie. where we were invaded, lol...believe there were no weapons of mass or even minor destruction here, and this is still the case, lol
interesting stuff below...who would think years later citizens from both countries and all over the world would be chatting, harmoniously
(for the most part) on the 'net', lol
"The War of 1812. One of the bloodiest episodes of the war was the Battle of York, which started just west of present-day Exhibition Place and advanced eastward through what is now the CNE midway to Fort York. The American advance on York (Toronto), the capital of the British colony of Upper Canada, started at 8 am on April 27, 1813. Although the Americans lost 300 men, they took the town of York by afternoon. Five days later, on May 1st, they burned down the Parliament Building in York before setting sail for home. The British avenged the burning by firing upon the White House in August 1814. The war concluded shortly thereafter and Americans and Canadians have lived in harmony ever since.
On June 12, 1930, the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine dedicated this bronze monument, the "Peace Memorial," to commemorate over 100 years of peaceful relations between Canada and the United States. In 1958, the fountain and gardens were added and the statue rededicated to the cause of peace. The statue faces the Niagara River, which forms part of the Canada-United States border.
Peace
