Peggy Wolff

Queens, New York.

As the summer of 1965 was coming to a close, my family took a driving trip to Flushing Meadows, N.Y., the site of the New York World’s Fair.  The fair, which stretched over two years, was described as a showcase of mid-20th-Century American culture. And it certainly held to that high standard, especially when you got up close to U.S. Steel’s contribution: the 12-story-high Unisphere, a stainless steel model of the earth.  

Amongst the unmatched legacy of tourist junk, world fairs are supposed to offer glimpses into Man’s Achievements and the technology of the future. A grand consumer show and in that 1965 fair, bright and cheery visions of American companies dominated, like the brand new Ford Mustang (we would get a red one!), space rockets, and super sonic jets. We would not get those.

I think boys—who become men—are born with transportation genes. So my dad and little brother hovered over those exhibits. I don’t remember where my sister went, but I headed over to the food pavilion, passing up the sandwich café where, for $1.55 you could have all the 7-up you could drink, and stopped in at a flamboyantly competitive exhibit, with its larger-than-life bottle of soda pop, Canada Dry Ginger Ale.

They were introducing a new grapefruit-y soft drink called Wink. Samples were offered, which I gladly took, then filled out a small paper with my name and address. With hundreds of thousands of other fairgoers, I entered their drawing for an entire case of the new soda Wink. 

What made Canada Dry’s exhibit my best fair memory didn’t occur that day. No, it must’ve been a week after we got home when our doorbell rang.  A case of Wink had been delivered with My Name On It!!!! An entire case!!!!  Mine!!!!

Looking back on my luck (I really don’t win things, do you?) maybe it helped mobilize me for my next phase. I now see it as one big win with its vista of promise of a lot more food and drink in my life.