The Expo could never have taken place without the hundreds of hours of work put in by dozens of volunteers whose combined efforts made this event run so smoothly.  To see a list of Expo committee members, click here.

A REPORT ON THE WORLD EXPO
by Preston Russell

   Not having attended a miniature show since the Washington DC Expo in 1993, I showed up in Boston full of curiosity. Would I recognize anyone, and would anyone recognize me? With relieved joy, I can report that the best old memories remain. So many of the veterans were still around (most of them appearing to be alive), full of their usual good cheer and generosity. Yes, some Boy Wonders from back then are now middle-aged All Stars, little changed in appearance (well, maybe a few more pounds around the middle here or there). It has long been a cliché to repeat, year after year after year, that this art form could not POSSIBLY get any better than the show last year. I have heard this since my first MFCA show in 1980 (how many recall sweating away in that huge old gym with no air conditioning, praying for your very first award?) But by 2005 in Boston, that cliché appears to have come true, in the most universal sense. Of the untold hundreds of displays, technical virtuosity appears at a dead heat – no more thick, shiny paint jobs (my old forté) with blasé compositions and comical groundwork, with Elmer’s glue as visible as the static grass.

   Talk about sweat!  At a World Expo, judges must be candidates for sainthood – or the mad house – for even showing up. Deductions for technical failures are largely gone, because technical glitches are largely gone too, like trying to judge 50 raving beauties with Sophia Loren breasts and Betty Grable legs – none with thick ankles – all vying for Miss America. Or fifty Sea Biscuits all roaring down the stretch nose-to-nose. Or fifty Napoleons against fifty Robert E. Lees. Or fifty Batmans against fifty Spidermans, or fifty...you get the point. Today it is artistic EXPRESSION that commands the eye – artistic harmony rediscovered from the principles of that late icon of the hobby, Henri Lion – creativity, presence, even soul. In that department there was no end, and from all over the world – Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Japan, Iceland, Malta, Singapore, and Korea, just to name a few. But the exhibits in this Garden of Eden seem to have been fairly judged, since there were fewer homicide or suicide threats than usual at a major show (or did I miss a body or two floating down the Charles River?)

   But more special at any Expo is the locale, sense of place, ambience, visiting the historic sites like Lexington and Concord together, enjoying the hospitality and other wonders just around the corner when you are tired of looking at little people a few inches tall. And the clear winner in this case is unquestionably........BOSTON!  You could walk a short block to stroll in the beautiful Public Garden, past George Washington on horseback to ride the swan boats, continuing up the hill through Boston Common to the stunning monument to the 54th Massachusetts. You could shop 'til you dropped on snazzy Newberry Street, or go around the corner to devour some of the world’s best clams at Legal Seafood. Did you enjoy eating real Italian food in Little Italy in the North End, sitting next to some guy who looked like Tony Soprano? Hop the subway at Arlington Street to take the green line and see the lowbrow Red Sox or highbrow Museum of Fine Arts? Or the red line to Harvard and Cambridge? Did you have time to follow the red brick Freedom Trail, passing statues of Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, Sam Adams, and finally (puff) Paul Revere, behind the magnificent white steeple of the old North Church (one if by land and two if by sea)? Did you make it over to see Old Ironsides docked at Charlestown Navy Yard? Did you see her being taken out on her annual July 4^th harbor cruise, going a mile out and back to maintain her status as an active sea-going vessel in the Unites States Navy? Did you see her fire a gun to leeward and dip her colors as she passed the assault carrier USS Bataan, the Navy's oldest warship exchanging the traditional naval salute with one of it's newest? Then climb Bunker Hill just for the commanding view alone? For me, the emotional highlight was the July Fourth reading of the Declaration of Independence – where it has been read from the same balcony at the old gold-domed colonial State House every year since 1776!  Needless to say, the hair on the back of my neck tingled through "We hold these truths to be self-evident"– repeat, self-evident – but this year there seemed a special emotion while the "Baaastan" accented voice of the commander of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts rose and rose again with the rhythms of freedom, climaxed by forever pledging "our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." Even if you didn’t catch that and the parade of Revolutionary soldiers down to Faneuil Hall, it was impossible to miss the spectacular fireworks that night – lasting a full 25 minutes – while the Boston Pops blared out the 1812 Overture and John Philip Souza's Stars and Stripes Forever from the Esplanade, loud enough to be heard in Rhode Island and New Hampshire.

   Or did you spend ample time in the various hospitality rooms for perhaps too long, losing track of time (way past midnight?!), having one too many drinks while catching up with old friends – making new ones – exchanging cards, swapping techniques, perhaps beginning to learn a foreign language (or wish you had), to better bond with new artists from around the world, whose artwork and fresh visions simply amaze you? What an incredible bunch of creative nuts show up at a World Expo – may it always continue!   I salute all of you, with best wishes for an even better Expo in Spain, but then that would be hard to do...like fifty David Beckhams against fifty Peles...or fifty...anyway, thanks to everyone at the Boston Expo for such wonderful memories!