THE BALLOON MAN

1962 World's Fair frenzy fun, hard work
The Bargreen family of Everett played a prominent role in planning, concessions


 

Grace Bargreen is dressed for business in this snapshot taken at the Juan Valdez 100% Colombian Coffee shop inside the Food Circus at the Seattle World's Fair in 1962. Her husband, state Sen. Howard S. Bargreen, was on a 15-member commission that planned the world's fair. The Everett couple, whose family started the Bargreen Coffee Co. and Crown Distributing Co., operated a concessions business during the fair's six-month run.
By Julie Muhlsten
Herald Columnist
from:  heraldnet.com
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Some of her memories have faded, but the best ones are vivid. They shine brightly, rekindled by the hoopla over the Seattle World's Fair 50th anniversary.


"It was all fun to me. I loved every minute of it," Grace Bargreen Parsons said Thursday from her home in Palm Springs, Calif. "It was hard work at the time, but just great."


That Parsons struggles to remember details is understandable. She is, at 103, a remarkable woman who still occasionally hits a golf ball.
"It was all fun to me. I loved every minute of it," Grace Bargreen Parsons said Thursday from her home in Palm Springs, Calif. "It was hard work at the time, but just great."


That Parsons struggles to remember details is understandable. She is, at 103, a remarkable woman who still occasionally hits a golf ball.


In 1962, when the eyes of the world were on Seattle, her Everett family was involved top-to-bottom in the Century 21 spectacle.


The late Howard S. Bargreen, Parsons' first husband, was a state senator. He was on the 15-member commission of business and political leaders that planned the Seattle World's Fair. The Bargreen family founded what became the Bargreen Coffee Co. in 1898, and Crown Distributing Co., a beverage distributor, in the 1930s.


During the fair's six-month run, Grace and Howard Bargreen moved from Everett to an apartment in Seattle. They operated an international marketplace concessions business at the fair, and their children had jobs there.
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