text: In January 1964, the Chicago Tribune reported that the site was filled with raw material, incomplete building frames, and unpaved roads. That month, WFC officials said that work on 26 buildings was behind schedule, and they sought to demolish a pavilion that would not be ready for the fair's opening. They also signed a document outlining how profits from the fair were to be used. By that February, most of the major pavilions and attractions were complete, but Whipple estimated that up to 10 pavilions would not be finished before the fair's opening. The same month, the WFC stopped selling advance tickets, having sold 28 million tickets. There were still 4,800 workers on site in late March, when the state government began hiring people for the fair. Before the fair had even opened, the WFC had spent $30 million.
  Opening
  The night before the fair opened, the TV series The Bell Telephone Hour broadcast an opening celebration. When the World's Fair officially opened at 9:00 a.m. on April 22, 1964, the first visitor was a college student from New Jersey. The opening was celebrated with speeches by Robert Moses, Nelson Rockefeller, and U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson. The same day, Johnson dedicated the US Pavilion, while Rockefeller and Moses dedicated the New York State Pavilion. During the ceremonies, hundreds of civil rights activists organized a sit-in and were arrested. The civil-rights group Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) proposed a "stall-in" to block roads leading to the fair, but few activists participated. The opening ceremony ultimately attracted 90,000 attendees, less than half the predicted number, in part due to inclement weather.  The WFC banned picketing on the grounds, prompting lawsuits from civil-rights groups; a federal judge later ruled that protesters could give out handbills to passersby.