The city parks commissioner, Queens elected officials, community leaders gathered at the iconic Unisphere Fountain today to celebrate its $2 million makeover.

The 140-feet-tall fountain in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is a relic of the 1964-1965 World’s Fair, which had the theme "Peace Through Understanding."

"They always intended that it would be a permanent piece of the park, so it was constructed with that in mind,” said John Krawchuk, the director of historic preservation for the Parks Department.

Due to years of neglect, along with wear and tear, the fountain would leak tremendous amounts of water when turned on, so it was only used sparingly during special events, like the U.S. Open.

"A lot of bad things happened in the 1970s, when the city gave up on its parks, things got vandalized, plumbing fixtures would get stolen, and they would just never get replaced,” said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe.

The makeover of the structure's plumbing will give the Parks Department the ability to run the fountain every day from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and it has a recirculating system so water is not wasted.

Funding for the project came from the mayor and Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, who can attest to the fountain's not-so-reliable past.

"Usually when they get ready to turn them on, they'll have me come and it will just be myself and maybe a couple of park workers doing it, but many times it didn't come on,” Marshall said.

The Parks Department hopes that is a thing of the past, as the Unisphere continues to be a symbol, not only of the World’s Fair and the park, but also the entire ethnically-diverse borough of Queens.

"I would hope it brings the 120 or 130 different nationalities together in the spirit of the Unisphere, and that's what the hope is here,” said George Stamatiades of Unisphere Inc.

Officials from the Parks Department stress that the fountain is not for swimming and bathing, saying that that would be both dangerous to the public and detrimental to the equipment that was just repaired.