As the Malta Trade Fair is being held at the MFCC, JOHN GUILLAUMIER  reminisces about one of the earliest fairs, which was held at San Anton Gardens.

Seventy years ago, in the summer of 1952, the Malta Trade Fair was held at San Anton Gardens. 

The exhibitors at the fair included car dealers, manufacturers of alcoholic beverages and soft drinks, food importers, furniture firms, travel agencies and retailers of household appliances and women’s apparel and accessories.

Cars on show

My father’s business firm was commissioned to build several display stands for exhibitors at the fair. As a mirror manufacturer, my father exhibited an indoor stand, called ‘The Mirage of Beauty’, which displayed distorting mirrors for the amusement and entertainment of fair goers.  

An endless stream of people in the evening went through the stand and laughed out loud as they watched themselves in the mirrors.

Fair goers having fun in front of distorting mirrors at the 1952 trade fair.

Among the visitors to ‘The Mirage of Beauty’ were British Governor Sir Gerald Creasy, the elegant Lady Creasy and their daughter, as pictured here. In the background, my eldest brother, Paul (now deceased) can be seen lowering himself in front of the mirror so he could fit his tall frame inside it.

British Governor Sir Gerald Creasy, Lady Creasy and their daughter visiting the distorting mirrors stand.

My father’s firm also constructed a medium-sized maze at the fair with an open roof and a few dead ends.

On several occasions, fair goers were treated to fashion shows with glamorous English models showing off gowns and dresses that were beyond the financial means of most Maltese women in the early 1950s. 

Visitors, including young children, admiring models during a fashion show at the fair. Fashion shows were quite a novel event at the time.

"On several occasions, fair goers were treated to fashion shows with glamorous English models"

The fashion shows were something quite new in Malta at the time, as is clearly evident by the bright, eager faces and the rapt attention of the tightly packed audience. Note the boy in front gaping at the model on the platform.

Children had their own playground called ‘Children’s Paradise’.

There were no “national” pavilions at the 1952 Malta Trade Fair. They were introduced at the fair in the 1960s after it moved to the Naxxar fair grounds.

Also missing from the 1952 fair was a good-quality catering service like the one that was available at the Farsons pavilion in the late 1960s. Back then, fair goers queued en masse throughout the evening to purchase genuine Italian pizza (with an enticing aroma that could be smelt from afar), tasty arancini di riso and other delicious snacks prepared to high standards.

One of the display stands, by James Calder & Co. Malta Ltd

The 1952 Malta Trade Fair was a commercial exhibition on a modest scale like everything else in Malta at that time.

The Malta Trade Fair runs at the MFCC in Ta’ Qali until July 3.