- [TV Narrator] The Great Pacific Northwest begins right here, ♪Worlds Fair 74♪ - [TV Narrator] Spokane Washington, site of the world environmental fair.

♪Worlds Fair 74♪ - [TV Narrator] Celebrating the birth of tomorrow's fresh new environment.

♪ Come share a world of excitement.

♪ ♪ So much to see and to do ♪ You could never see it all.

♪ Come join the fun magic and music ♪ ♪ You wanna be there too ♪ A whole new world waiting for you.

♪ - Welcome to Riverfront Park, site of Expo 74, the World's Fair in 1974.

Hello, I'm Tom McArthur with KSPS PBS.

It happens right here, 50 years ago, guests make 5 million 187 thousand 826 passes through the butterfly gates to experience the fair that summer.

I'm one of them.

My dad takes these Kodachrome slides of my mom, my brother and me, as we walk toward the United States Pavilion and a film that flies us through the Grand Canyon.

We take a ride over the falls, in a gondola that gets us so close, we sail right through the mist.

We make friends with a garbage goat and learn how to feed it.

So many people try to find a place to stay in Spokane that we end up in dorms at Eastern Washington University.

It is an incredible summer, it is an incredible story.

Come on along as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Expo.

- [Narrator] Riverfront Park is the 100 acre inheritance all of us enjoy today because of Expo 74.

The Spokane Falls here is the second largest urban waterfall in the United States, and it's right in the heart of our city.

50 years ago, the population of Spokane Washington is about 170,000.

It's the 80th largest city in the country at the time.

That makes Spokane the smallest city ever to host a World's Fair.

That is the first global event dedicated to the environment.

50 years on, Spokane is still talking about Expo 74, why this community needs it, who makes it happen, and how hundreds work together to pull it off.

And in the process, restore our downtown, rediscover our namesake river, and grow up to be one of the best places in the country to live in the dawning years of the 21st century.

- Well, one thing is that, this little town, about 170,000 people at the time had the gumption to hold a world's fair.

I mean, New York had just had a world's fair.

Seattle had just had a world's fair.

Spokane was easily the smallest town to ever have a world's fair, and the fact that they had the moxie to pull this off is pretty amazing.

- [Narrator] The KSPS PBS production team spends the past year cleaning up old film, restoring old video tape and discovering recordings that aren't played in 50 years.

We interview the historian who writes a book on the fair and the falls.

The expo executive who sees the arts as part of our environment and shapes the entire expo experience and shares some expo souvenirs and folks songs in the hands of a local collector.

Finally, we'll join the North Central High School choir as we sing the official Expo 74 song, Meet Me by the River.

- There's a great line about how when they first broached the idea, somebody warned them that people in town would go through three stages.

The first is, these people are nuts.

The second was, oh my God, the dummies are gonna do it and they're gonna ruin us all.

And the third stage was, wow, this was a great idea, I'm glad I was behind it from the beginning.

- [Narrator] This program is as jam packed as a day at the fair, and we're glad you're here to celebrate Expo 74, at 50.

A hundred years before Expo, the views around Spokane Falls are picnic perfect.

The first claim to 320 acres of land around Spokane Falls is filed in May of 1871, almost exactly 100 years before Expo.

After pioneer's notice the beauty of the Spokane River Falls, they quickly turn their attention to how moving water can turn our sawmills, generate our electricity, and wash away our sewage and industrial waste.

Five railroads build their tracks along the river so high you can't see the river anymore.

Few seem to pay any attention anyway, Spokane is building for the future and dreaming of tomorrow.

(old melody) Round about 1959, Spokane business leaders begin to realize our downtown is a pit.

They form Spokane Unlimited and Commission a study that confirms Spokane needs to recapture the beauty and attractiveness of the central business district's natural setting.

The group's best idea is to hold a centennial celebration.

They ask voters to take on a bond issue to pay for it in 1962 and 1963, the vote is no each time.

In 1963, Spokane Unlimited hires a big gun to find a way out.

- People in this community, when I came here in 1963, couldn't even tell me where the river was.

That's a fact, I wanted to go see the falls, I'd read about them in the encyclopedia before we came and the waterfalls in Spokane were quite nice and nobody knew where they were.

Now, if you're new to this town, it seems impossible to think of.

- [Narrator] King Cole known today as The Father of Expo hears two distinct voices when he comes to Spokane.

One wants something done immediately, the other wants nothing done ever.

King Cole starts to think, but doesn't say that Spokane ought to reach higher than a centennial event.

Historian Jim Kershner writes about the thinking in those days on History Link, the free online encyclopedia of Washington state history.

- This consulting group, the report they delivered was sobering.

It said the city would be throwing away money if it spent it on a strictly local centennial.

The city might spend as much as $1 million and end up with no downtown improvements to show for it.

If Spokane really wanted to make lasting improvements, it must set its sites much, much higher, said the report.

It should think about an international exposition, that way the city could get federal and state dollars, attract visitors from all over the world and end up with a completely transformed riverfront.

- [Narrator] King Cole finds a confidant and ally in Joe Gandy, a Spokane native who is Century 21 president, when Seattle holds a world's fair in 1962.

Gandy knows how to run a world's fair, his is the first one in the United States to show Prophet.

Gandy's advice for Spokane?

Go for it.

Gandy dies in 1971, but the first stage of the rocket is already lit and the idea of a world's fair in Spokane is taking off.

- Am I crazy to think about something like this for a little old Spokane?

Cole asks Gandy.

No you're not, you're right on target Gandy said.

Little old Spokane is just about where Seattle was relatively speaking back in the fifties, when we started thinking about a world's fair and we pulled it off.

- [Narrator] In 1971, voters are asked a third time, if they will tax themselves to revitalize their city, this time with a world's fair.

57% vote yes, but state law requires a super majority of 60% to pass the motion by 3% fails again.

King Cole tells newsmen that night for all practical purposes, expo 74 is over.

Eager for something, anything to revitalize downtown Spokane businesses agree to tax themselves to get this done and asks city council to pass a business and occupation tax.

That measure passes unanimously on September 20th, 1971.

Expo is go for launch.

Bill Youngs writes the book on Expo the Fair and the Falls, now in its second printing in paperback.

- King Cole, liked to to discuss the fact that initially there was a lot of opposition to the fair.

People didn't want it to happen or just felt very skeptical.

The way he would put it is he would say, well initially, a lot of people said, this is a really bad idea, it's not gonna be good for us at all.

And then King Cole says, we got further along and we're actually making progress.

And the same people were saying, those idiots, they're gonna do it.

they're gonna ruin us, it's terrible, it's terrible.

And then the clincher for King Cole in the way he puts this is then on opening day, all of them said, wasn't that a great idea?

- [Narrator] There is a miracle in the Expo story, though credit is not usually given to the divine.

We can credit timing, we can credit luck and we can credit Jim.

Years after the fair, King Cole is asked if there is one person without whom the Spokane World's Fair would never have happened.

Cole answers yes and reveals the name Jim Cowles.

- [King Cole] There's one person who stands out more than anybody else, and that's Mr. Jim Cowles.

James Cowles.

He is really the man who if you to name one person would get the award for the for the man without whom it couldn't have happened.

We would get up to the point on our computerized critical path network when we literally couldn't go a single hour longer or we'd lose the fair and Jim Cowles would get a decision delivered just in time.

- [Narrator] Jim Cowles third generation of the city's newspaper family says The secret to getting the railroads to consolidate their tracks in Spokane is no secret really.

It just takes getting to know the people who make decisions, meeting with them, talking with them, and persistently calling, like Jim does with John Kennefic president of the Union Pacific Railway.

- Oh yeah, once a week for a couple of years.

Oh yeah, this is not just an accident, it took a long time to persuade him that this would be good for him and his company.

And then you had to listen while you heard what he had to say and then find to now let's get back to why I am here with you.

And sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

- [Narrator] Jim convinces the Union Pacific, the Milwaukee Road, and the Burlington Northern to consolidate their routes to tracks off the river and away from downtown.

They agree to give 17 acres of land to the city for free.

Spokane voters are asked one last time to make an expo investment to keep the great Northern and Union Pacific stations, both cathedrals to travel built for the ages.

Spokane voters say no.

A ribbon bedecked wrecking ball begins the end of Spokane's railroad era on June 1st, 1972.

The 1902 Great Northern Depot comes down.

Though city officials decide its clock tower can stay.

The Union Pacific Station comes down too.

Local artist, Ken Spierings Red Wagon marks that spot today.

Spokane History may not remember Ed Thompson except for the fact that he helps us remember Spokane history.

Ed retires in 1972 after 32 years as a postman, he finds himself with time on his hands.

Lucky for us, we find him with a movie camera in his hands.

- Along Trent Avenue where the trestle was, where the Union Pacific and Milwaukee Road came in there.

It extended from Post street all the way up to almost a Division street and on from Washington east of there was warehouses where the trains would come in and unload all their stuff.

And from Washington up until where Post street where at that time Montgomery Ward Building was, that was the trestle via dock as they call them, and for the trains to come in.

And so I thought, well, I'm going to take a picture of it as it is now and as it is when it goes down and all that sort of stuff.

- [Narrator] Ed's films capture the transformation of our city and the point from which we now measure time BE, before Expo and AE, After Expo.

(lighthearted music) - There isn't very many cities that have a nice park like that right in the downtown area.

And nobody, but nobody's got a river like we have that goes through there, especially in the early spring, when it's running to the full brink.

It's beautiful, even today as many times as I've seen it, I just stand there and admire that river coming down across the haver mail island and around through, what we used to call it Crystal Island before when before Expo and now is Canada Island there.

And the falls, they're beautiful.

(upbeat EXPO music) - [TV Narrator] This is Washington State.

Those of us who live here, like to think of it as the home of Mount Rainier, the home of Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands.

We like to think of it as the home of the mighty Columbia River and Grand Coulee Dam.

And this year, Spokane Washington is also the home of a great world's fair with dazzling entertainment and a whole world of international exhibits.

We'd like to have you come visit our home this year, see the World's Fair and all of Washington state, your travel agent can show you the way.

♪ World's Fair 74.

- [Narrator] The first person to see the fair is Spokane artist Keith Oka.

His drawings in full color vibrant to this day stand in contrast to the black and white promotional photos of the day.

People appear in nearly all of Oka's drawings, immersed in experiences yet to be created.

Oka's artistry presents the world of the world's fair before a stick of it is built.

It's remarkable how close he comes to the real thing.

Since many will drive to the Fair Expos advertising agency creates a variety of radio spots that air on popular stations across the West.

- [TV Narrator] Tour the fascinating pavilions of Great Nations, enjoy Star Stream Entertainment, run away to Adventure on Premier Rides.

World's Fair 74, your Northwest shortcut to everywhere.

debut May 4th through November 3rd in Spokane, Washington.

♪ World's Fair 74 - [Narrator] Influencers are signed to sell Expo too in the 1974 Constellation Stars don't get much bigger than Bob Hope.

- Hi, this is Bob Environmentally invigorated Hope I'm on the road again this time to Expo 74 in Spokane, Washington.

It's so lush you wouldn't believe that Crosby's hometown.

Now 11 nations are here to celebrate the birth of tomorrow's fresh new environment, along with the greatest entertainers and famous sports figures from around the world.

I'll be there on May 26th at the Coliseum.

So bring the family and join us at the World's Fair in Spokane.

- [Narrator] When Bob Hope records his commercial on the expo site, none of the sod is yet in place.

Hope remarks to the film crew as they're packing up, it scares me when I see all that mud out there.

Are you sure you'll be ready to open on time?

- As people started to see Bob Hope touting The World's Fair, I'm gonna be out there in Spokane, Washington and I want you to come on out here and be with me.

Expo 74, I mean, it was tremendous.

Well, that opened the doors for other people to say wait a minute, if Bob Hope is gonna go, maybe I should go.

When Liberace signed a contract, now all of a sudden people like Glen Yarborough and Gordon Lightfoot in the folk music genre and John Denver and Harry Belafonte, all were willing to come to Spokane in part because Dog-Gone it, if Liberace's gonna be there, we've gotta be there too.

- [Narrator] Liberace signs for six shows at the World's Fair.

He wears this costume in each one.

Liberace dies in 1987, but his costume is back in Spokane for the 50th celebration.

(lighthearted music) - [TV Narrator] This is Washington State.

We'd like to have you come see it.

And if you can tear yourself away from the lakes and the islands and the ocean beaches, if you can take your eyes off the scenery, you can also see an exciting World's Fair.

A whole world of international exhibits and dazzling entertainment.

It's all here this year in Spokane, Washington.

Come to the world's Fair, see Washington state.

Your travel agent can show you the way.

♪ World's fair 74.

- [Narrator] The brand new Washington State Pavilion with its signature Opera House is dedicated on Wednesday, May 1st, Washington Governor Dan Evans, Spokane Mayor Dave Rogers, Expo President King Cole and others are ecstatic at the first public event on the expo site.

The night marks proof of a World's Fair the city long hopes for, but almost can't believe is happening.

- One day, I got a phone call from the mayor of Los Angeles and they said, we got your letter.

We would like to participate in the World's Fair and we would like to send you the Los Angeles Phil Harmonic Orchestra with Zubin Mehta to conduct.

Holy moly.

They were gonna charter an airplane for these 120 musicians and send them to Spokane.

- [Narrator] It isn't every day the Los Philharmonic offers to come and perform at your party in Spokane.

It's a different story when your party is a World's Fair.

That little fact brings one of the finest orchestras in the world, here to Open Expo in 1974.

- Kobluk said this was gonna be the center of entertainment and doggone it is.

And that night there was a sold out performance in the Coliseum and a sold out performance in the Opera House at the same time, on the same night.

Artists who, might never have thought of coming to Spokane without Expo 74.

- [Narrator] Hosting a World's Fair not only makes Spokane famous for the big things it does well, but also for the little things it does well.

For example, there isn't a step on the expo site.

The entire fair is accessible by wheelchair.

No pathway over the entire 100 acre site has a grade higher than 5%, ensuring a puff less arrival at any pavilion.

Wheelchairs are available at every entrance.

Boy Scouts camped on the expo site, do good turns as volunteer chair pushers.

- I was a boy scout, 14-year-old during the fair, and I got to camp down there for a week.

And talk about doing a good turn daily, that was basically what we did.

We pushed wheelchairs, we tried to make ourselves useful in whatever way, picked up trash, generally tried not to be a nuisance.

- [Narrator] A new merit badge appears on scout uniforms around the time of expo, environmental science with the same Mobius strip design.

Scouts at Expo are among the first to earn it as they learn how to be kind to the earth.

It is awarded to more than 3 million scouts to date and required to become an Eagle Scout like Stacey Coles.

- It was a real eyeopener.

I mean, for kids I thought, man, this just is like, opens the world before you and you start thinking about the possibilities.

And I think ultimately, that was the special thing about Expo.

Everybody got to think, wow, the fact that we could pull this off means what?

There's a lot of things we could accomplish here if we put our minds to it.

- [Narrator] Expo is such a large sprawling operation that it needs its own telephone book.

Here are the telephone numbers that are so important to have 50 years ago, each connected to copper landlines throughout the park.

It's interesting to see the extensive operations side of the fair, all the exhibitors that are here, and how many concessions and restaurants that will support millions of people across 100 acres over six months.

Amateur Radio Too is here with a station on site to move traffic or messages in and out of the park.

Well, the programs are printed and ready to go for the opening day ceremonies of the world's first international exposition on the environment.

It's time for Spokane to welcome the world.

The clock tower counts down to Expo, now it is zero.

Expo 74 opens to the world on Saturday, May 4th, 1974.

After weeks of clouds and rain, the day breaks as if the Chamber of Commerce orders it.

Bright, warm, and beautiful.

Ed Thompson is there with his movie camera.

- I did, I've got pictures of it and showed them, but I couldn't get anywhere near the floating stage there where President Nixon was coming because there was such a crowd there and I couldn't anticipate it anyway.

And so all I could do was be on the outskirts.

I got pictures of his coming in with his entourage, with the big limousine and everything.

And then the balloons after he, they got through speaking I mean the television stations, they had it covered really good and they showed it on the TV later.

So I took pictures off the TV screen because I couldn't do it myself there.

And so that's how, but it was great.

That was an opening day and it was a beautiful day.

Nice and sunny and warm.

It was great.

- [Narrator] 85,000 people see the world's fair opening ceremony in person on the expo grounds.

Thousands hear the opening ceremony live on radio.

Thousands more see the opening ceremony live on television.

This is videotape of that broadcast 50 years ago.

With it, we can see the opening ceremony exactly as viewers at home see it 50 years ago.

The audience is eager to hear the official declaration to be delivered by President Nixon, that the fair is open to all the citizens of the world.

Timed to occur at 12 noon on Saturday, May 4th, 1974.

- Acting in my capacity as president of the United States, it is my high honor and privilege to declare Expo 74 officially open to all the citizens of the world.

(upbeat music) ♪ Meet me by the River - The Spokesman-Review prints a rare full color front page on Sunday to share news that the World's Fair Expo 74 is open and that Spokane really does it.

We really do it.

Two veteran journalists get front page bylines, both are made ebullient by what they experience.

- [Larry] Everything came together for a perfect opening day of Spokane's Expo 74 World's Fair.

The weather threatening and windy all week cleared up and provided the first really spring-like day of the year.

Sunburns were not uncommon in the crowd, which saw exhibits and the opening day ceremony.

Opening day attendance was estimated by expo officials at 75,000.

Larry Young, the spokesman Review Sunday, May 5th, 1974.

- [Dorothy] In Brilliant Sunshine, Spokane staged the spectacle of its civic life on the Spokane River.

Delegations of 10 participating nations arrived one at a time at the floating center stage in front of the Washington State Pavilion for the impressive ceremony.

The ceremony sparkled, bands played a thousand voice chorus rose to the sky from a massed choir.

1000 pigeons were released.

Flowers and banners were everywhere in Spokane skies and huge hot air balloons rose skyward exactly on cue.

Dorothy Powers the Spokesman Review Sunday, May 5th, 1974.

(trumpet music) - [Narrator] Attendance at Expo 74 is strong.

About 35,000 come in every day.

Most from the states of Washington, California, Oregon, Montana, and Idaho.

With many visitors coming down from Canada.

Adult admission is $4.

The US Pavilion is the most elegant and expensive at the fair.

Its sprawls across four acres on Havermale Island and boasts the largest structure at the fair.

An iconic tilted vinyl canopy held a loft by four miles of steel cable.

The US Pavilion highlights the fair's environmental theme Man and Nature, One and Indivisible.

Inside is the world's first IMAX theater, with a screen so large, many become nauseous from a virtual flight through the Grand Canyon.

(harmonious music) The Washington State Pavilion is best known for its 2,700 seat opera house that hosts many of the top name entertainers during Expo.

The Los Angeles Phil Harmonic opens the fair.

Ella Fitzgerald closes it.

The largest international pavilion is presented by the Soviet Union.

Sprawling nearly two acres on Havermale Island.

The Soviets are among the first to sign up for the fair and draw many of the other international pavilions in with them.

- Significant black organizations have been able to have an input into this design.

- [Narrator] The Pan-African Foundation presents the Afro-American Pavilion at Expo.

The first time America's black citizens are represented at a world's fair.

Warren Maher with the NAACP national office speaks to this unique honor for Spokane.

- There is the magnificent Afro-American Pavilion effectively summarizing the story of the American black man.

This is the first time to my knowledge, that such presentation has been made on a world stage.

- [Narrator] Organizers have one of the first portable video recorders that puts us in the audience on a sunny day at Expo 50 years ago.

Spokane historian Jerrelene Williamson has deep roots here, going back to the 18 hundreds.

She writes about African Americans in Spokane and says her whole family enjoys Expo.

- They thought it was wonderful, they thought it was just great.

My mother especially, she loved to go down there.

My father worked downtown at the Old National Bank and he went over there too, but my mother always would go down there.

It's beautiful, it was different what do you call a old one horse town or something like that.

All the way back when my father was coming along but it turned into a heavenly place.

I was there forever.

Just practically every day after I got off work or something like that, I'd go down there and take the kids down there.

So it was fun.

- [Narrator] In her lifetime, Jerrelene sees her parents stand behind a color line and her children stand in an admission line.

World fairs are always about seeing the future.

- Proud,we were here, we were here.

- [Narrator] Expo 74 is the first time American Indians, the indigenous people of our country, joined to present an all Indian experience at a World's Fair.

Indians of the Spokane, Coeur d'Alene and Kalispel Tribes, all with historic ties to the Spokane River and its Falls, serve as host tribes, here for the six months of Expo, Plateau, Plains and Coastal Indians meet with non-Indian people from around the world to talk about our common home and how to best care for it.

- So our creator created all of this and we're here not to own, to take advantage, but to respect things and keep it alive.

And the only way we can do that is taking care of it and not taking advantage of it.

- [Narrator] Spokane Tribe Medicine man, Gibson Eli has the idea to share a traditional Indian wedding ceremony.

The young couple doesn't really get married at Expo, but the ritual shows our common emotions of love, honor, tradition.

Carol Evans performs the role of bride.

The ceremony draws capacity crowds.

- If we're cut, we bleed just like you, we too fall in love and want to join with another person and have a family and this is how we do it.

And so I think that, all of the sharing, that mock wedding and all of the sharing through the whole year, whoever really sat down, listened, visited afterwards, they found out that we are a rich people with feelings, with history, with the whole culture that's built around respect and love of human life, of the land, of the air, of the water, and of one another.

And I hope that people, some of the people learn that.

- [Narrator] An aerial gondola ride across the lower Spokane Falls is the most spectacular and exciting attraction at the fair.

- [TV Narrator] One of the many focal points of Expo 74 is the Spokane River and the rushing waterfalls.

In a gondola safely suspended by cable, you will explore the white water.

Just when you are beginning to think that maybe you are learning a little more about the falls than you really wanted to know, the gondola swings upward beyond the crashing cascade and you wouldn't have missed it for anything.

- [Narrator] A second sky ride with ski lift benches, spans the entire Expo site and offers an unobstructed panorama of the fair.

Both attractions are manufactured by the local Riblet Tramway company.

Once the largest ski lift manufacturer in the world, just three miles from the fair.

The original Expo 74 gondola ride is replaced with new lifts and enclosed cabins in 2005, though the route is pretty much the same.

Today, 70,000 people enjoy this ride over the Falls every year.

You can sit in one of the original expo 74 gondolas at the Spokane Valley Heritage Museum during the fair's 50th anniversary celebration.

Car 17 makes countless trips across the Spokane River Gorge and thrills, young and old alike who feel the cooling mist of the falls on a hot summer day.

(upbeat EXPO music) - [TV Narrator] This is Spokane Washington, home of Expo 74 World's Fair.

A whole world of adventure on the islands and shores of the Spokane River.

A world of enchantment of international excitement and dazzling entertainment.

Come to the World's Fair, see Washington State.

See your travel agent now.

- We know Expo 74 is the first World's Fair to celebrate our environment.

One Expo team member is the first to see our environment as more than soil, water, and air.

Mike Colic has the radical idea that our environment, the space in which we live, includes the arts.

This idea changes the entire personality of the fair.

- My first job as manager of special events included writing letters to all of the mayors.

And in an attempt to encourage them to participate, I tried to indicate that man's environment included social environment, musical environment and everything that makes that city perhaps proud of itself and proud to be a part of the country.

So I included the fact that music particularly, but could also be drama, was part of man's environment.

And we wanted them to come to Expo 74 and to give us examples of their environment.

It worked very well.

- [Narrator] The Smithsonian Institution originally offers to present a folk life festival at the fair, but after two months of trying says it can't be done because there isn't any folk life here.

Bob Glazer disagrees and almost single handedly puts it together himself.

For many people, folk life is the best part of the fair.

- It was an ever changing example of some of the folk life of the Pacific Northwest.

And it had some major permanent exhibits.

There was a building of a boat, for example, that started on opening day and lasted through the six months of the fair.

There was an example of Pacific Northwest logging that included the loggers coming down and climbing trees and cutting off the tops and spinning in the water on logs and challenging people from the audience to come and do it with them.

And of course, the Northwest Indians had their own presentation as well on site.

That was a tremendous exhibit of their life.

♪ Up of the people, ♪ You meet it wherever you go ♪ Up of the people ♪ They're the best kind of folks we know.

♪ ♪ If more people, with more people and people everywhere ♪ ♪ There'll be a lot less people to worry about ♪ ♪ and a lot people who care - [TV Narrator] Come enjoy up with people.

International pavilions, spectacular rides, all at World's Fair 74.

Spokane, celebrating tomorrow's fresh new environment.

- We have one of the great city center parks in the Northwest Riverfront Park, which we wouldn't have otherwise.

It puts Spokane on the map, so the legacy still lives on.

Even now people say that to me.

Well, and we have a performing arts center.

The town would look completely different and diminished if it hadn't been for what Expo 74 brought to it.

Just walk through Riverfront Park today, you'll see Expo 74 everywhere.

(somber music) - [Narrator] Many pieces of Expo 74, large and small remain here in Riverfront Park today.

The United States Pavilion continues to serve as a concert and event space and a landmark on the city skyline.

The Washington State Pavilion continues to serve as the premier performing arts and entertainment venue in the Inter mountain West.

Literally connected to our history with the floating stage on which expo opens 50 years ago.

And the garbage goat created by Sister Paula and Mary Turnbull.

The Welding Nun continues to vacuum up small bits of trash placed near its mouth in a grotto near their carousel and will likely never go hungry.

Expo is very good at selling merch, merchandise that promotes a brand and delivers an experience long after the event is over.

Expo 74 has 12 official tourist shops that sell nearly a thousand different expo items, many of which are still out there today.

- One of my prize possessions is that foot ashtray that says I left my footprint at Expo 74.

It's this sort of burnt golden harvest color that I don't think really had much presence outside of the seventies, but it's so hideous that I love it.

- [Narrator] Elizabeth Wood has one of the largest collections of expo memorabilia in town.

At least that we know.

She shares most of it online @visitexpo74.com.

- We have to make a lot of that plate that's a cow shape and it has separate containers for ketchup and mustard and then one for dealer's choice as you're having your hamburger.

And they said yes and in the same burnt mustard color, absolutely make a ton of them do this.

And I said, that is a mindset that I can really appreciate because it was not trying to be highbrow, fancy, inaccessible, they said, this is for everybody.

And whatever trinket you wanna come away with, whatever kind of performance you wanna see, whatever type of meal you wanna have, we will offer it here.

- [Narrator] Liz collects musical expo gems too, like this one from Dale Miller who sings Expo 74 on the A side.

♪The world will be on display on the Spokane River shore.

♪ ♪ The Lilac city is dressing up like a pretty teenage girl, ♪ ♪ getting ready for the World's Fair Expo 74.

♪ ♪ Spokane will show the world power cleaning up the land ♪ ♪ Fresh air from sea to sea.

- He's really out of that folk music, guy with a guitar singer songwriter tradition.

I think if you heard him out of context, you might think you were hearing Johnny Cash or Hank Williams.

And he was a Spokane guy.

- [Narrator] Bob Bellow's issues a Expo souvenir record too and sings, yes you can in Spokane.

♪ They'll welcome you in with a grin ♪ ♪ Don't wanna boast, Spokane's the most ♪ - I think my favorite part is you can just feel the energy as he sings, don't mean to boast, Spokane's the most.

And I'm like, thank you Bob.

Thank you for saying that.

- [Narrator] Expo 74 inspires creativity in many ways and in many places, even years after the Fair.

Community Builder, Jim Frank takes 78 acres of former Spokane Railway yards and turns them into Kendall Yards, a vibrant mixed use urban neighborhood in 2010.

In 2015, he commissions artist Kay O'Rourke to tell the story of this place, so that future generations will know their past.

- He wanted this series of paintings to be here where the history was created and he wanted it to be a place where children could see it, the community.

He said it doesn't do any good to be in a museum.

He wanted people to come in, get involved and see that this is what happened right here where we are right now.

- [Narrator] The piece is titled The River Remembers.

30 Individual Oil on Canvas Paintings, remind us of points in time on this land.

Like Spokane's iconic clock tower captured on the day Expo is exactly one year out.

The day's steam locomotives whistle through the Spokane River Gorge right here.

Two of the panels, picture Chief Gary of the Spokane Tribe.

You'll wanna spend some time with these images and find the one that's looking at you.

- It speaks to what happened from the beginning of time.

The river flowing through here.

The river holds little pieces of everything in the history of everything that ever happened and the soil and everything around it.

So, everything that happened, the town grew, there were fires, there were wars, there were all these things, and they all are embedded in the soil of this place.

- [Narrator] Historians will tell you, history is not about what was rather about what is.

Bill Young's gives a historian's perspective on why Expo 74 is worthy of a citywide celebration on its 50th anniversary.

- Well, I'd say there are two answers to that, one is that, without even thinking about it, we celebrate it and that we have this incredibly great park in the center of the city with a river running through it.

So just defacto that's there.

But I also think the celebration and the knowledge of the history of it, is very inspirational.

It's this can-do spirit of a small city that does arguably the impossible in having a world fair.

Having the very first Soviet exposition in the United States since World War II.

And in a variety of ways, as I've mentioned before having a very important theme.

But I think maybe particularly the fact that I think we need to know that this fair didn't just suddenly occur.

That it took a lot of work, a lot of imagination.

And it's a wonderfully inspirational subject in terms of the role of people like King Cole, the President of the Fair and inspiring people.

And the ability of thousands and tens of thousands of spoken knights to sort of reach deep into themselves and do something they wouldn't have done before in terms of helping to make the fair possible.

It's a good story then and now as well, about how people working together on a common theme can do some amazing things.

- [Narrator] As a young man, King Cole plans to be a Catholic priest.

Others encourage his talent for planning.

The rest is Spokane History.

(somber music) Just like Faith, Cole describes the biggest benefit of the fair is not something you can see, it's something you can feel.

- The World's Fair created a turning point in Spokane's history, which was not the World's Fair itself as a remembrance, but it's a residual memory that is held in the bosom of many people in this community, which makes them feel larger than they are and which makes them think about their community as bigger than it is.

And which in turn makes people who don't live here have a special, glorified view of Spokane.

And that's the beginning step of any kind of community development, is getting everybody, outsiders and insiders to think the best of their community.

- [Narrator] King Cole, The Father of Expo, dies in 2010 at the age of 88.

One of King Cole's grandchildren lives in Spokane today and works near Riverfront Park.

Cole Taylor says his grandfather continues to inspire him.

- I try and think about that a lot, how I treat people.

It is inspiring to know a man who accomplished so much in his life, but was just at the end of the day, very just sweet, honest, gentle human being.

And a good grandpa to have.

And I think he would be so happy to see the continued investment in and around the park, whether it's that new football and soccer stadium that was built right next to it, the investment and the playground and the bridges and everything in the park.

I just think you'd be thrilled to see that the community and taxpayers and people still care.

- [Narrator] Expo has an official song.

Meet Me By the River is written for Expo 74 and sung by a mass chorus on opening day 50 years ago.

The song begins humbly, I've traveled all over America.

I've seen all there is to see, but of all the scenes in America, there is only one place for me.

The North Central High School choir sings us home with this song.

So cheers to Expo 74 across 50 years.

You can meet me by the river.

Thank you for watching.

Bye for now.

♪ Meet me by the River ♪ At the international exposition.

♪ ♪ Meet me at the at Spokane Fall ♪ At the Expo 74 ♪ Where the rainbows play and the silver spray ♪ ♪ As they swim their way up the Spokane River ♪ ♪ Meet me by the River, ♪ At Expo 74