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MEMO FROM THE PUBLISHER
This year the trade fair in Poznan, Poland, which began June 9, has the U.S. Government as one of its exhibitors, participating for the first time in Poland in an International Trade Fair.
With twin objectives of telling our story to people of other lands and of stimulating trade between the U.S. and foreign countries, our three-year-old trade-fair program, under the Department of Commerce, has already put more than 45 exhibits in 25 countries.
The American Exhibit, shown here in an architect's rendering, has the theme "Made in U.S.A." and emphasizes individuals and their family living. An integral part of it, covering 4,500 square feet, is the Hall of Recreation, which dramatizes American interest in sport. Historically, this is an interest the Poles have long shared with us—as humorists have often observed in spelling out a Notre Dame lineup.
In the foyer of the Hall of Recreation is the 23-panel photographic display, Sports in the United States (SI, May 30, 1955), which SPORTS ILLUSTRATED first prepared for the United States Information Agency in 1955 and which has already appeared in dozens of exhibitions around the world. With it are four-color SPORTS ILLUSTRATED posters, some already familiar here from their frequent appearances in department store window and interior displays. Almost 700 items of sports equipment fill the Hall itself. Valued at more than a quarter of a million dollars and lent by 50 sporting goods manufacturers, they range from ping-pong balls to a plastic swimming pool, in which floats a fiber-glass boat complete with outboard motor.
An estimated 2 million eastern Europeans will visit America's Hall of Recreation during the two-week fair. Needless to say, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is pleased and proud to contribute to the picture of America they will see there.
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