The Great White Fair

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One hundred years ago almost 3,000,000 people visited a fair on an unimpressive piece of scrubland between the two prosperous South Dublin villages of Ballsbridge and Donnybrook. The Irish International Exhibition, however, wasn't just a funfair of swings and roundabouts, but an ambitious enterprise designed to show off the best of Irish industry and crafts, and to attract visitors from overseas to sample its myriad entertainments. Enormous buildings rose to the sky and a wonderful array of exhibits and attractions went on display. It was an extraordinary feat of organisation, and of entrepreneurship.