Guatemala's entry was a small one-story
pavilion of French Renaissance style, square in design 55 feet by 60 feet. It cost 5,000 dollars to build. It was not until a month before the fair's opening day that the Guatemalan government decided to make an exhibit.
The entrance wass by an arched vestibule in which displayed a bas-relief bust of President Cabrera, and also the Guatemala coat-of-arms, the principal feature of which was a bird, beautifully plumaged, called Quetzal, common to the country, that is said to die within an hour when deprived of its liberty. The building had a central partition, one side being reserved exclusively for serving fine coffee to visitors, and on the other displayed examples of Guatemala's great wealth of productions, such as coffee, beans, wheat, corn, oats, sugar, fibers, medicinal plants, rice, vegetable wax, rubber, marbles, precious ores, crystals, nuts, etc. And while presenting such a variety of grains, plants, gold, silver, copper and the finest building material, the exhibit also embraced manufactured products, such as vegetable oils, beers, highwines, leather, shoes, hats, furs, and many kinds of valuable woods, including mahogany, lignum vitae and others susceptible of a very high polish.
Two really wonderful paintings on polished cocoanut shell by a young artist of Guatemala who never studied art, but whose talent was so pronounced that the government had undertaken to pay the expense of his training in the best art schools of France.
Inside the west salon featured 186 different varieties of diverse resources such as: coffee,
wood, red peppers, vegetable wax, flour, nuts, fruit, cotton, corn, cocoa, beans, rice, beer,
perfume, liquors, quinine, hats, cigarettes, riding boots and wild flowers. The room also
included a small cafe.
The east salon contained art, photographs and coffee demonstrations.
Noted art included a bust of the President of Guatemala- Estrada Cabrera.
Many fairgoers were surprised to find that Guatemala was rapidly becoming noted for its silk culture. The country also produced great quantities of long fiber cotton equal to the best grown in Egypt.
