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Sunday, June 2, 2024

EXPO '74 -- 50 YEARS LATER

 

I attended Expo ’74 (aka the Spokane World’s Fair) three times. The first was in June 1974 when I met my parents there as I returned to the Pacific Northwest from a stay of several years in Boston.

Our Spokane accommodations were at the newly renovated Davenport Hotel. I remember that I flushed the toilet in our room – and it flushed and flushed and kept flushing. Maintenance came and fixed it.

I don’t remember much at all about touring the fair except for watching the glassblower at work. My dad loved blown glass and bought several pieces.

We also attended a Lawrence Welk Concert, and I think that was at the Spokane Coliseum. I can’t tell you a thing about the concert, but I do remember an incident prior to it. As we returned to the hotel from our day at the fair, the Welk performers, who were also staying at the Davenport, were loading their bus at the entrance. As we waited for the elevator, Lawrence’s tall (6’5”), good-looking male vocalist, Tom Netherton, nearly ran me down as he exited the elevator, apparently running late. He and I did a little this-way-and-that dance, and he was clearly impatient with the situation. He didn’t say, “Excuse me.”

Later in the summer, Mother decided that she and I should take a group of her grandchildren to Expo. I don’t remember much about that either except that we briefly lost Christi. We were just about to panic when we found her. We were never sure exactly what happened. Suffice it to say, she wandered off somehow and no one else was involved.

The third visit was in September, a first date for Mike and me. We talked about it the other day. Neither one of us can remember anything about the fair. Did we see the IMAX movie? Probably.

But here’s what I do remember. I had a chance meeting with a young man (Bob) who worked in my building in Boston. He was cycling back home to Boise through Canada and by happenstance our paths crossed at Expo.

“Wouldn’t you know it?” I thought to myself. “Here I am with one guy and another one shows up. Why now, Bob?”

Of course, I didn’t know at that time that Mike and I would marry or that Bob would reach out again, but sometimes you just have a feeling about things. Sure enough, in April, I received a note from Bob asking if he could write to me. I sent him a short note explaining that I was marrying the man with whom he saw me at Expo. My wedding was just weeks away. My life worked out for the best, I assure you.

And that’s what I remember about Expo ’74 – in other words, not much. The other day I noticed a program on PBS about the 50th anniversary of Expo ’74 and suggested we watch it. Maybe it would spark our memories, I said. We watched about half of it before giving up. It was more about how Spokane managed to finance and coordinate Expo – it wasn’t easy – than about the fair itself. Perhaps it just wasn’t all that memorable. KW


7 comments:

  1. Great story. Too bad there weren't more memorable events. At least you got Mike.

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  2. Hi Chuck! Did you go to the Spokane World's Fair? I think we just looked at exhibits and didn't spend much for extras.

    And yes, I did get Mike, or we got each other.

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  3. Yes, I went there, but I don't remember anything about it. Lots of things I don't remember any More.

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  4. Well, at least your lack of memory bears out my theory that it wasn't memorable. I remember more about the Seattle World's Fair in 1962 when I was 13 than about Expo '74. The purpose of a world's fair is evidently to present the latest technology to the public, but today our devices keep us abreast of the times.

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  5. This is all very interesting as I also went to Expo 74 and don't remember much about it. I would have been a junior in high school.

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  6. Dan's mom got us tickets for Christmas of '73. We finally went late summer of '74 when I was getting quite big as I was pregnant with Ann. It was a hot day, Dan's brother dropped us off in our '73 Olds Cutlass and roared off, gunning its engine. I remember hoping we'd see our car again in one piece. We wandered through the exhibits, don't remember any of them, just being hot and frankly, bored. However, we went, the car survived, and I hope we remembered to say thank you to his mom.

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  7. I don't remember being bored, but I can certainly understand that you weren't up for it on that hot summer day, Chris.

    I did some research. The theme was the environment. I think they had 10 or 11 exhibitors instead of the 25 they had hoped for. Admission was $4. Seems very reasonable considering what tickets go for these days, but it was a different time.

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