{"id":203526,"date":"2018-03-13T23:04:23","date_gmt":"2018-03-13T13:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=203526"},"modified":"2020-08-06T11:46:56","modified_gmt":"2020-08-06T01:46:56","slug":"expo-88-comes-to-life-in-kingaroy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2018\/03\/13\/expo-88-comes-to-life-in-kingaroy\/","title":{"rendered":"Expo 88 Comes To Life In Kingaroy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Inside “Jason’s Room” of collectibles … reporter Rebecca Bergh chats to Jason Ford about Expo 88<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Do you remember Expo Oz?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

March 8, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

Did you catch Jason Ford on TV at the weekend? The well-known Kingaroy resident is not only the South Burnett’s own celebrity chef, he’s also a guru about everything connected to World Expo 88.<\/p>\n

Jason is a mad keen collector of Expo 88 memorabilia and now he’s enticed former Brisbane Lord Mayor Sallyanne Atkinson to come to Kingaroy for a VIP launch of a special exhibition on May 1 at the Kingaroy Heritage Museum to mark the 30th anniversary of the opening of Expo.<\/p>\n

Sallyanne was a key part of the original event and featured in much of the promotion and publicity at the time.<\/p>\n

Jason has also sent an an invitation to current\u00a0Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk to come along, but he hasn’t heard back yet …<\/p>\n

But why Kingaroy?<\/p>\n

Jason is one of Australia’s keenest collectors of World Expo-related memorabilia and he reckons he owns thousands of pieces, so it seems fitting an Expo 88 exhibition should be held in Kingaroy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He fell in love with World Expo while he was an apprentice chef studying nearby in Brisbane.<\/p>\n

He bought a season pass so he could visit as often as he could and his love for the happy and colourful event has not waned over the years.<\/p>\n

A TV film crew visited Jason at home recently in Kingaroy to check out his Expo collection, which is housed in “Jason’s Room”, a special area set aside in his family home which includes Expo items, news clippings and chef statuettes … and posters from his time as a candidate for the Palmer United Party.<\/p>\n

There’s no doubt that Jason is a bit of a bowerbird when it comes to collecting, but it is Expo 88 which has all his attention at the moment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The TV crew was shooting video for a half-hour Rupert McCall special focusing on “Brisbane’s biggest party” (Channel 9 link<\/a><\/strong>), part of a series on Queensland Icons.<\/p>\n

Reporter Rebecca Bergh and crew Aaron Kelly and Darren Franklin couldn’t help but be caught up in Jason’s enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

Not long afterwards, ABC Radio Brisbane’s Breakfast Show also contacted Jason for an interview<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The ABC crew were interested in Jason’s aim to create a permanent digital memory online of Expo 88 (which occurred, of course, during analogue days).<\/p>\n

The ABC had learned that Jason joined a small Expo 88-related group on Facebook and within a short time had become its administrator.<\/p>\n

The group members share memories of Expo and post photos of Expo memorabilia.<\/p>\n

Jason is now hoping to build the page’s membership to a symbolic 1988 before the Expo 88 anniversary opening date of April 30.<\/p>\n

He has 1598 members now … here’s the link<\/a> if you’d like to help him out!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Jason Ford being interviewed on ABC Radio in Brisbane recently (Photo: Ford family)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Expo 88 Advertisement<\/strong><\/h3>\n