Committee for a Workers' International (1974)

Transcription

"Mr. President, will you say the magic words?" (R.M. Nixon) "At 12 Noon on this day 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 citizen of the world." ♪ "Meet me by the river" EXPO '74 theme music ♪ ♪ "Meet me by the river" EXPO '74 theme music ♪ ♪ "Meet me by the river" EXPO '74 theme music ♪ ♪ "Meet me by the river" EXPO '74 theme music ♪ (Alison Kartevold) Back in 1974, much of the world's attention focused on Spokane. Momentarily the country put aside issues like: the Cold War, energy crisis, and Watergate to kick-off, the bicentennial, think about the environment, and welcome the world to Spokane. Millions came here to see a World's Fair, in six months these visitors were gone, but Spokane remained forever changed. For 20 years now, people have cherished these 100 acres of land. Riverfront Park is Spokane's Crown Jewel. Its existence is the fulfillment of a dream--a dream accomplished by the most ambitious undertaking this city has ever seen. It took the power of both man and nature to create this park. The sage of its birth is the story of Expo '74. So join me, Alison Kartevold, as we look back at this story in Reflections by the River of Expo '74. These falls have always brought people together. In centuries past, the roar of tumbling water guided native Americans to tribal gatherings on the riverbanks. Later, the promise of harnessing some of its power encouraged pioneers to settle here. Then slowly, without people giving it much thought, the beauty of this place became obscured by progress. Before there was a park, and before there was a fair, this area was covered with the skeletal remains of an industrial empire. Spokane was built on industry. Its heart and arteries were forged from railroad steel. Its first decades saw prosperity, but in the Sixties the times were, indeed, changing. (Kartevold Question) "What was the Spokane area like in the 60's?" (Jack O'Brien) "It was very charming, it was very peaceful and it was very much behind the times. We had just really not kept up with the state, with the region, even with the nation. It was a very comfortable place to live, but the economy was stagnant; culturally we were just not in keeping with the world. Something had to be done." >>No where was it more blatantly clear that something needed to be done than here in this area. Now it looks out into Riverfront Park, but in the 60's this was Spokane's Skid Row. (Mike Kobluk) "It was urban blight. Trent Avenue, which right now is the street right out in front of the Opera House--which became Spokane Falls Boulevard. It was a series of shops that were less than your most ideal shops in the city. With two levels of railroad that came right down Spokane Falls Boulevard--Trent Avenue then. The 2 levels of railroad and 2 railroad stations completely blocked off the river from the core of the city and took what people of Spokane did not realize was an island, and of course had marshaling yards and railroad yards and warehouses on that island, as well as, as I mentioned, one railroad station. So they took this gem of a piece of property and, over the course of time, had developed it for their own use." (Jack Geraghty) "I used to be a newspaper reporter here and covered the County courthouse, and would walk from the newspaper offices to across the North Street Bridge to the courthouse. In those days there were all kind of railroad trestles going across the river gorge, and I used to think how fantastic it would be if we could do something in this community to bring back the river for peoples' use, and that the people of Spokane--not just the people traveling on the trains--see the falls, which are really the heart of this community. So, it was kind of in that vein, and in that spirit, that as the EXPO project unfolded, and it started out as a centennial celebration, and also as kind of a continuance of some urban renewal planning for the city, and I just got caught up in that. . . >>Jack Geraghty was not the only person who "got all caught up" in the idea of a World's Fair. King Cole was hired by an organization called "Spokane Unlimited" in 1963 to work on rejuvenating the downtown area. (King Cole) "I wasn't thinking of World's Fair. I was thinking of something that would be regional at least in attraction, national in scope as far as the theme and so forth, and that would be able to attract outside money for the event. We hired a consultant firm--this is after I'd been here for about five years, we'd done some things already: we'd rebuilt the Parkade downtown, and put in trees and streetlights all over downtown, did a lot of things that could be done to sort of get the downtown back on its feet, 'cause it was pretty bad. The reason that the World's Fair appealed to me was that, if we could pull it off, was that it would do things for the community that you couldn't do for yourself. It would bring people into the community who would spend money; and some of that would be left in residual benefits in physical construction; and it would bring attention to the community in a way that only large cities can do, and which we couldn't do in and of ourselves" >>But could this little industrial town really put on a World's Fair? As the 60's drew to a close, Spokane only had about 170,000 people in it. No city that small had ever held a World's Fair before. Plus, outside the region, its name was virtually unheard of. However, it did have one thing going for it: an unusually strong group of potential leaders. (Jack O'Brien) "One of the most amazing aspects of EXPO '74 and Spokane and the Spokane community was the truly unusual level of leadership that emerged as part of the EXPO '74 project. Admittedly, a lot of these people were Leaders in the community, but, being very pragmatic about it, there really wasn't a heck of lot to lead back in those days. But there were people like Rod Lindsey with Lincoln Savings, Luke Williams who headed up the state's EXPO '74 Commission, people like King Cole, and the list goes on and on. These truly remarkable people who came forth and without whose leadership this thing never would have happened" >>Most of these leaders including Luke Williams, came from the business community. (Luke Williams) "Well that's really the way it's supposed to be in America, up until recently the private sector was the initiator of a lot of projects throughout the whole country. We didn't even have a Department of Urban Renewal in Spokane, and so there just weren't any other sources of money. I think that's one of the good things, because if we had been waiting for the government to do something, we probably might still be waiting. >>Another key factor in the Expo's success was the home-grown nature of these leaders. (King Cole) People on my board, I had thirty people on the board and about 21 of them owned the business that they were in and therefore didn't have to call to Seattle or New York to get permission to do anything. And could, if they sat around a table, and they'd never tried this before, but if they'd get in a single room and sit around a table, could, if they wanted to, could come up with enough money to make something like this happen. Seed Money. And so, after that picture was painted to the leadership and the board that i was consulting to they decided that they ought to give it a try >>They gave a try to the tune of more than five million dollars. Members of the business community wanted this area cleaned up so badly that initially that put up 1.3 million dollars of their own money in an attempt to just get the site approved. Their Seed Money was not guaranteed. And neither was success. (Luke Williams) "Well everyone knew there was some gamble to it, but they also were some pretty intelligent people, Most of the money, the Seed Money, came from 2 sources: and the rest of 'em, it wouldn't have hurt either of those sources if they'd lost the money, the other people, for lesser amounts, it wouldn't have killed anyone. Sure there was risk of loss, but it wouldn't have been calamitous insofar as their individual businesses are concerned >>The decision to try for a fair was the first step. But there were many obstacles ahead. Besides getting approval from the International Exposition Committee in Paris, the site itself had to be acquired from its various owners. 15 of the 100 acres that is now Riverfront Park was owned by three railroad companies. Looking over the area now, it's hard to imagine the train tracks and trestles that dominated the landscape. But one reminder of this time is is the People's Wall. Residents now use it as a canvas to express themselves to the rest of Spokane. But this mass of concrete is really an abutment for a train trestle that used to tower ominously over the Monroe Street Bridge. King Cole says that dealing with the railroads was like negotiating with world governments. (Cole) People didn't even want to start because they didn't see how it could be done. And we just decided to start--we had to because they had to be off of they property, it had to be done. People said, well I'll give you the #1 objection 'Where are you gonna get the money?' So we went to see the railroads, and we got them to tell us how much it would take And when they got finished, we said, 'Would you give us your figures please we want to go back east and see your bosses back east and we're gonna ask they to donate it. The next thing was that we had such good cooperation from our major shippers on the railroad, and if they weren't a major shipper they had good friends and knew people who were elsewhere in the country, and they developed a network and got the railroads to listen to the right people. So by the time people in Portland and Seattle had finished their work, and very incredulously handing it to us shaking their heads, we were back in St. Paul and New York talking the the chairs of the board, and so forth. The long story short is that four railroads became 2, and they got off of the site about 20 years earlier than anyone had dreamed possible. All of 'em. and we didn't pay a cent for it--they donated all of it." >>Gaining ownership of the proposed site in 1972 was a major victory. But many other things also needed to happen it there was going to be a fair here. The idea of having a world's fair in Spokane initially developed 8 years before opening day, yet time was still running short. (Cole) There was just barely enough time to do it. It takes a lot of time to make these things happen. For example, just getting your own city council to do what it has to do so that state government will do what it has to do 'cause it won't do what it has to do until the city has done it. And the federal government, which won't do anything until the city and the state have done something--those things are all like steps on a ladder, and they have to be built one ladder step at a time to make it happen. >>Another rung on that ladder was public opinion. (George Reitmeirer) They ranged from people in Seattle saying "For god's sakes don't embarrass our state, you can't put one on successfully"; to "Grab it! Go for the gusto!" to everything in between was there. >>In 1971 local opinion created the most pivotal point of Expo's development. (Jack Geraghty) By and large, i think the people of the city just had a wait and see attitude. On the one hand, the possibility of a World's Fair in Spokane was very intriguing, but on the other hand, some of the things that that might bring was certainly not. There was only one vote--a lot of people are confused about this--there was only one vote, community-wide vote, that had anything to do with the fair. It had to do with a bond issue, a very small portion of the fair funding, about 5 million dollars, that was to go for the city's part of putting in the infrastructure for the fairgrounds: water lines and that kind of stuff. And the people voted 58 per cent in favor of that, but it needed 60%. (O'Brien) And that was the reason why Mayor Rogers called a meeting of the business community and said ok, folks, it's up to you. We want to have an EXPO. The city has a major role to play in developing the site for EXPO, we can't do it without the money, the revenue necessary to do that job. The only source that we have, available to us, is the B&O tax. Now you tell us, what do you want us to do? And the business community, very reluctantly, said go ahead and vote it in. But, put a dollar limit on it. 5.7 million dollars. And at the time that that amount of money was raised, then the B&O tax came off. As i recall, it only took about two years to raise that amount of money, and the minute that total was reached, then we cut it off. That was the end of the B&O tax, for that time. >>Passage of the B&O tax solved another problem that could have derailed the EXPO project. But there was still areas of public dispute. Even as demolition began on the railroad trestles, a strong movement was underway to save some of Spokane's railroad heritage by leaving the train station standing. The save our station's campaign divided households. (Cole) "Even my kids, a couple of my kids thought that we ought to save that station. And they had a great motto: "SOS", you know? But those who wanted to get rid of the station prevailed. The main thing was that we had the railroads coming off the river, and even the Great Northern station, which was next door and across the river, is only left by the residual of a tower, which is there as a memory. But the station itself had no value at all. It took up space on a site that was already too small to put a world's fair on. We had another station, the Northern Pacific, two blocks south, which someday, and it turns out now, would be remodeled. >>While the business community in Spokane focused its attention on the EXPO task, the rest of the world was concentrating on much different issues. ♪ ♪ Spiro Agnew: "I think that there's a little mischief going on with regard to the end the war amendment." "How serious a problem will the gasoline situation be for the visitors from your state?" "I am the chairman of the Western States Governor's Conference, and we've been working on it a great deal, and we feel that we will have a sufficient amount of gasoline." Lee Iaccoca: "You're gonna see in the next 10 years a continuing movement to small efficient packages on all car lines" Jimmy Carter: "I believe that the President is guilty of action that would warrant his dismissal" "We've done some research and development at the Bell Telephone Laboratories regarding the ultimate in portable telephones, you know the kind that might resemble a James Bond thing, a pen where you talk into it and so forth. We're not at that point, but we're looking at all the possibilities. >>In the early '70's, most people in Spokane paid only passing attention to this world's fair idea. They were far too busy living their private lives to heed the commotion downtown. But there were a few people anxiously awaiting the fairs arrival. Using his 8mm movie camera, one man actually decided to capture the metamorphosis of the site from beginning to end. Ed Thompson is a self-appointed Spokane historian. (Ed Thompson) Really i am, in a way, a historian. I've preserved things that nobody else has got. Nobody has got what i had on film--I know that. Cause i was the only...sometimes I used to see people down there with a still camera, you know, takin' snapshots once in a while, but I was the only one with a movie camera that I knew of anyway when i was around taking pictures. And now I'm glad i did because a lot of people maybe get a chance to see this, whereas it laid in my basement for 20 years and nobody ever'd looked at it. >>Now his film helps take us on a journey back in time. He was there when the double-decker trestle, nicknamed the "Chinese Wall" fell to the wrecking ball in 1972. And as he chronicled the countdown displayed in the Clock Tower, there were times when he thought that they would never get it all done by opening day. (Thompson) No, I didn't, because in my movies I was sayin', 'Gosh, the days--you know they had the days on the Clock Tower up there, how many more days until EXPO--and I thought, 'How in the Dickens are the ever gonna get this done by that time?' >>These directly involved in the project wondered this, too. But, at the same time they felt great pride in what they had already accomplished. (King Cole) I used to come down from my home here, I used to go down the hill, down Grand Boulevard, and on down Washington Street, come out and come underneath the trestle on Washington Street and look up and there I would see nothing but a big trestle across my vision, which was on Trent, which is now Spokane Falls Boulevard. "The morning I came out from under it and there was nothing there, in my heart I knew that, if nothing else worked from that day on, Spokane had done most of its job. The main thing was finished. They could handle everything else--it would be costly, it would be time-consuming, it would be full of. . .it would be no fun, but it would be done. But, the work was over when that happened. And that's how good it. . . that's how big it was for us in Spokane. Even as the old structures came down, crisis management continued to be a way of life for the EXPO project. (Jack Gerhaty) In the early going we kind of stumbled around a little bit in getting the Fair off the ground, and we had some fits and starts, and there were a couple of times when we went home at night and we thought, 'Well, it's all over. We aren't gonna go ahead' "A lot of it had to do with funding; and putting together all the many things that had to come together. The railroads deciding almost on a minute's notice to vacate the site, to getting the caliber and quantity of exhibitors that we needed to make the show a success; lining up all the entertainment events...it was a remarkable undertaking for a community of this size." >>As demolition on the site continued, King Cole traveled the world trying to secure foreign exhibitors. In May of 1972, the Soviet Union shocked skeptics and thawed a little Cold War ice by announcing its participation. The USSR was the first country to commit to EXPO '74, the first World's Fair with an environmental theme. (Reitmeyer) This is an area that has always been concerned with the environment. Many people would disagree with that, but it is an area where people have been interested in outdoor activities; have been interested in making the outdoors a big part of their life. Skiing, hunting fishing, you name it. So it was a natural that "Man and His Environment" was, a topic that came up very quickly in the discussion. >>The theme of celebrating tomorrow's fresh new environment also seemed natural because of the site. Nature is what made this place so appealing. Enclosed in this 100 acres are two islands, and a series of cascading waterfalls that rival any across the country. Especially when you consider their location at the heart of a city. The environmental theme gave Spokane a chance to clean up the site and the river. But it did not necessarily please area environmentalists. (Ed Reynolds) "Well the idea of cleaning up that ghastly downtown area with all the overhead railways, and that kind of thing, was something that interested me a lot. The idea of doing something that would focus on the environment was something that interested me a lot. But from the outset, I was kind of suspicious about the people who were putting it together because that didn't appear to be a group...I knew very well that wasn't a group who was involved in the environmental movement in Spokane. And my belief was, and still is, that the folks who put those things together are primarily interested in economics, and not the environment. (Gerhaty) We were criticized a lot for 'Well, you're really putting on a show, it's not really an environmental Fair.' But we did do a lot to stick with the theme: we had, during the course of the Fair we had an environmental symposium series; we did insist that some of the development would be environmentally sensitive--and that's hard to do when you have an entertainment event-- but nevertheless, I think in the long-run it really worked, and it made Spokane much more environmentally conscious than it ever was before. >>There are those who disagree, and think EXPO officials had to be prodded into following an environmental track while developing the Fair. But there is no denying that, with encouragement from area environmentalists, a monumental step was taken. A then relatively new procedure called, "An Environmental Impact Study" was done on the EXPO site. (David Peterson) I believe we were the first entity in the State of Washington, we may have been the first entity related to any federal program, to file an environmental impact statement in the United States. >>Though the timely theme caused some extra work, it was not one of the major problems EXPO officials had to overcome. (David Pearson) The main problems dealt much more with the problems of selling the idea internationally that Spokane could have a Fair, getting the international exhibitors to commit early enough so that we could get domestic exhibitors to commit. Getting down payments of money to match with all the pledges and all the early "risk financing". I mean, this community, which is not a large one, had to risk millions and millions of dollars without ever even knowing if we could reach opening day. >>Part of those millions went into marketing the area: (Announcer) "Spokane Washington, site of the World Environmental Fair. >>Films like this were made to show Spokane off. It is much easier to sell the idea of a place if people know something about it. And the more interesting a place looks, the better. For this reason, it was decided to market not just Spokane, but the entire Northwest. Announcer: "Within an easy day's drive from EXPO '74 you'll find the rugged Cascade Mountains of Washington, Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks, as well as the treacherous Snake River and Hell's Canyon Country of Idaho." (Jane Johnson) That was certainly a strategy because, although we knew that our attendance was probably going to come from a 300-mile radius, a lot of the spots did try, particularly those outside the state of Washington state, try to attract people to the total Pacific Northwest: the Canadian Rockies, the coast, certainly Glacier National Park, that it wasn't just a stop at the Fair. And that seemed to work, too. >>They also used big names to help draw interest to the Fair. Bob Hope: "I'm on the road again--this time to EXPO '74 in Spokane Washington. it's so lush, you wouldn't believe it's Crosby's home town. >>Spots like this worked great, but Mike Kobluk remembers the long, hard road to getting people like Bob Hope interested in the Fair. (Mike Kobluk) Joe Rosenfield used to ask me to come to the Board of Director's meeting a make a presentation on "What's Happening in Entertainment". And, of course, for the first year or two, I would go to some of these meetings and I would have to report that 'Well, so far, the Jumping Jills, who do a skip rope act from...I don't know where, from the Tri-Cities, is gonna be on the site for Two Performances!" And, of course the Board of Directors would yawn and say, 'Oh my gosh, is that really the extent to which we're going? Is that really where we're headed?' And then I'd come back a week later and have to give another presentation, 'Well, we've written all these letters, and done all this stuff, made these calls we're making progress, and now we have "The high school marching band" . it stated off real slow. >>t may have started slow, but it ended strong. Anybody who was anybody during the early '70s made their way to EXPO '74. >>Never before, or since, would so many big name entertainers be in Spokane during such a short period of time. Kobluk: "Someone said that we were the entertainment capital of the world for six months. And I have to tell you that I cringed when I first heard that because I thought, 'Are you kidding? Spokane, Washington? Yes it's going to be important. Yes it's gonna be great. But, really, Spokane the capital of entertainment for the entire country? Next to New York and Los Angeles and Seattle, and whatever?" But doggone, as I look back on it, I think we were. We had an extremely important series of events that were both international in nature, that were local in nature, that were regional in nature, and that offered a wide variety for everything, for everyone who wanted to see or do something over six months." >>Before the visitors could come, the site had to be completed. Ground was broken for the US pavilion in the fall of 1972. It would be the focal point of both the Fair, and Riverfront Park. (David Pearson) Keep in mind that we had to plan a Fair, and we had to plan a way that six months later, when it went away, the park would be left in a state that we wanted the park to be in. And those were two different--entirely different--equations. So, first you do your Master Plan for what the Fair should be, and then you say 'Does this make any sense? Are we leaving behind the kind of park that we want to leave behind?' "But the concept was, obviously, to put the federal pavilion at the center, at the top part of Havermale Island, there at the northern edge, where it could be both the center of the Fair and the residual pavilion could be at the center. And I think that worked very well. And then we did sort of a radial theory around it, with the international governments right around it, and the domestic exhibits were farther out to the edge. That was two-fold: one of the reasons was that we thought that would be a nice relationship; the other was, we built the international exhibition, and so we wanted to be able to build that in a tight area. We allowed the domestics to build their own--we built some, but they were able to build their own. Those were the greatest quantity of unknowns. Well, if you're gonna leave a gap, you'd rather leave it at the edges and bring the fences in than you would in the center. So, that was some of that Master Planning process. >>And what a Master Plan it was! In spite of all the obstacles, EXPO '74 opened in Spokane on May 4th to a crowd of 85,000 people. "()in three and a half years we went from a site that we didn't own, with railroads crossing it to a brand new open World's Fair, all built within budget' open on opening day" ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >>For the six months EXPO '74 ran every day was like the Fourth of July. Each and every one even ended with fireworks. In fact, the Fair marked the kick-off of the country's Bicentennial Celebration. From the opening ceremonies on, the first environmental World's Fair was a hit! Everywhere it's mobius strip symbol--with green for the growing things, blue for the water, and white for the air, represented our eternal link to the environment. Divided into color-coded sections, with giant butterflies marking the gates, the site itself was a very user-friendly environment. The ground were designed so visitors could see it all in about three days. But many spent even more time taking in the sights here. The most prominent of the sights to be seen was the U.S. pavilion. Perched at the top of the newly-landscaped Havermale Island, it was the largest pavilion at EXPO, and one of three structures designed to remain after the fair closed. The United States government erected this web of steel and vinyl to house a courtyard and exhibits showing the federal approach to environmental issues. Plus, the world's largest IMAX theater screen. Nine countries, besides the United States, had pavilions scattered across the fair site. Canada teamed up with the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta to transform Canon Island into Canada Island. After years of industry, the emphasis was once again placed on the area's natural beauty. Greeter: "Hi, welcome to Canada island. As you can see, we have an awful lot of fun around here." >>Korea, the Republic of China, and Japan all brought a feeling of the Orient to the Fair. ♪ And the Pacific Rim met Europe when the Philippines and West Germany shared a building. The Philippines showed the beauty of tradition. ♪ German man: "In our building we are not only showing a documentation of environmental problems, ...[fade]" While West Germany used modern technology to display the Fair's environmental theme: (announcer): "Technology and industry have given us prosperity. But they've also brought hazards to the environment." "Polluted air, contaminated water, mountains of garbage, incessant noise..." >>Another pavilion located on the river's edge became home to our neighbors down under. The Australians were popular hosts at EXPO '74. Aussie man's voice: "Could you open it up for me? And there's a little gift for mommy in memory of there being a hundred thousand visitors to our pavilion. And there's a little bit of a 'warm you up'' for dad." Aussie woman: "This is part of the Australian pavilion, right next to the beautiful Spokane River Falls. We're going to show you a lot about Australia in 1974. We're going to show you about our ancient country and its beauty, we're also going to show you about some of the terrible tragedy that man has made on the earth." (Kobluk) The Australians were fabulous. The Australians used to have above their exhibit a small dining area. And the Australians love to have dinner parties, late dinner parties, usually. So after a performance on the Opera House stage, they would invite certain artists over for a wonderful dinner, a wonderful evening. >>Looking back at the Fair can illustrate how the world changes...in 1974 Iran was an ally of the United States, and openly shared its culture with the world at its pavilion. And the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was also represented at EXPO '74. Whether it was due to its overwhelming size, or the mystique of its cool relationship with the United States, people went to see the 54,500 sq. ft. building in droves. For many, this was the first real look at a land and people they had been raised to distrust. (Geraghty) "We had a lot of fun with the Russians. The, you know, the Soviet Union and the US were not the best of friends, and the soviet people that were here were really great and charming people for the most part, but we also had the KGB agents, and stuff, and that was kind of interesting." Russian woman: "While being in the United States, everywhere we felt hospitality. And I like to thank you for this warm and cordial reception. (Jane Johnson) "They couldn't go outside a certain radius outside of Spokane. They always traveled in pairs. They were not allowed to go alone shopping or any of those things, so there were a lot of interesting kinds of cultural differences that we had to overcome and understand. And I think that was all very positive for the community." >>Mixed among the foreign pavilions was a seeming endless array of domestic exhibits and entertainment. ♪ (Mike Kobluk) "Part of my job was to try find the on-site entertainment. To try to find the groups that were going to perform on the site. The concept was, that every time you turned the corner there was supposed to be something happening, so we were going to be looking for the bands, the musical events, the clowns, the jugglers, the magicians and those kinds of things, all throughout the site, so that when a visitor came to the site, there would be, not only the pavilions to see, but all this free entertainment." >>One of the most popular areas to find an ever-changing variety of this free entertainment was the Folk Life Festival located on the north bank of the river. (Robert Glatzer) What we wanted ot do in Folk Life was to bring people into immediate and prolonged contact with cultures and heritages and traditions and activities that they might not have had a chance to see before in their own lives. After all, Spokane at that time was a very old-fashioned city. I used to say it was like walking into a Booth Tarkington novel: there was the heavy hand of Anglo-Saxon mentality and mores that hung over this whole region. People who weren't of the British persuasion were self-conscious and often intimidated about expressing their own heritage. We asked ourselves what were the heritages of occupations and traditions in the Northwest: railroading, logging, mining. Well, we had visitors come and pan for gold. And we would have logging shows 3 times a day 7 days a week for 6 months, and we would invite visitors--not to do chopping or buck-sawing, or anything like that--but we would invite them to do log-rolling if they wanted to do it; talk to railroad men--we had a Union-Pacific locomotive on the site, manned by old Union-Pacific people--and so we had those. We had quilters who would invite people to come and sit down and work with them on the EXPO quilt, which they did. "So those were the kinds of things that we had. We had boat builders from Puget Sound that actually came and built a wooden sailing ship during the six months of EXPO. Those were the things people could get into. Then every week we had an ethnic group and perhaps another cultural heritage group, who would come and do things like cook or dance or play games--traditional things--tell stories, share things like that with visitors." Reporter: "The Folk life Festival region at EXPO '74 is this week featuring Ukrainian arts and crafts and entertainment. And fairgoers are given a chance to participate in many of the exhibits, and learn a little bit more about the Ukrainian culture. "Are you baking all this stuff right on the grounds here?" "Yes we are, with the exception of the two larger ones, they were brought in from Vancouver. Canada. The stoves here are not large enough so we're not able to do it. But we are showing them, demonstrating them, how to do these, and how we make twirls, how we make the various designs, how we make the doves. I've made a batch over there, as you can see, and the various designs, and this gives the people an idea just how we apply the various designs to our wedding breads, or to our Easter paskas." >>And, if things got a little slow at the festival, well, that was nothing a little gold rush couldn't solve. (Glatzer) "We had these wonderful, wonderful prospectors who were just great with people. They were for real, they came from Murray Idaho, and they were miners for all of their lives. Anyway, they were very good at "palming" little nuggets--now there are no nuggets of gold in this area, but nobody knew that at the time--so they would come over and they would help someone to pan for gold, and they would say 'nows here's what you gotta do, and you've gotta kind of swish it this way and that". And here, from their palm they would just let this nugget go into the thing. 'O my goodness, look what you've got!' And there just happened to be a camera crew there watching it. Well, it was that kind of thing. >>The possibility of gold may have brought some people to the site, but, all in all, it was the sharing of culture that seemed to have a lasting effect on everyone involved. (Glatzer) I think that they recognized that they had something worthwhile in themselves. And we saw, after EXPO, a lot of these ethnic groups and cultures found the strength in themselves to keep on going and to renew themselves. And even to grow in strength and ability. If there was any legacy of the Folk life Festival, I would guess that was it. >>One of the most important legacies left to Spokane as a result of the Fair are the Opera House and Convention Center. (Luke Williams) O I think without a doubt, we never would have had it without EXPO '74. The state paid about $10 million dollars to build those facilities, and Governor Dixie Lee Ray sold it to the city for a dollar, and that's a bargain. And we never would have been able to finance or fund that type of a facility. Of course, it's been used and appreciated by so many people. Not only for Spokane, but for the whole Inland Northwest. >>For the first time in Spokane, crowds of up to 2700 people could gather to see world class productions in a world class facility. (Kobluk) I remember Bing Crosby coming in, who did not perform at the World's Fair but who came as a guest, and standing on the stage and saying: 'Ah, let me try this out, Ba-Ba-Ba-Boo.' And he said, 'This is really a fabulous auditorium. I'm going to have to come back here and play sometime'. And he whistled off, and we never could get him to come back." >>Bing Crosby didn't play this house, but many others have. And it all started with the parade of world famous performers that came to EXPO '74. (Kobluk) "The Opera House was built as part of the State's participation in the World's Fair, and it lifted Spokane's performing arts capability to a new and unknown level. And certainly the attached Convention Center, and now the Ag Trade Center with that, put Spokane in a different league as far as meetings and conferences are concerned. More than that, I think what the World's Fair did, as far as I'm concerned, is that it made people understand that we can do things in Spokane, that we don't have to take a back seat to anybody, and the sky's the limit, and that imagination is the only limitation." >>During the six months the fair was open, more than 5 million people came through these gates to see just what Spokane could offer. And it was hard to find anyone who was disappointed. (Georrge Reitemeier) I think the community tolerated it up til opening day. They were impressed by opening day, and they bought into it about 4 days later--maybe a week later. Because they found out it was exactly what it was represented to be. Spokane sometimes is a bit reluctant to accept that which is stated on a public issue. And in this particular case they found out that it was exactly what it was supposed to be. And then you couldn't find anyone who voted against it. They'd all moved out of town. (Jane Johnson) It was sort of fun to see that happen, because those who had been some of the biggest critics, all of a sudden were pretty proud of what they saw, and the fact that it was moving and doing well. We had a wonderful summer >>But as with all things people seem to hold most dear, the summer inevitably came to an end. The Fair closed on a dark and cold November night. President Ford was now in office, but he was not present. His message to the crowd was recorded. The fireworks were grand, but similar displays had been seen every night for the past six months. In short, the closing did not have the same Pomp and Circumstance of the opening, but it did serve its purpose. Those responsible for EXPO '74 were happy it was over. They were also proud of what it had been. (King Cole) "The memory for me is that after the ceremony was all over people I knew who were out in the audience came up to me and everybody was crying: 'Could we keep it going a little longer? It was so beautiful! We'll never forget it. And I just had a terrible time to keep from smiling. I was so happy it was over. It was such a stretching, such a stressful kind of a thing to go through. And to have it happen without mishaps or problems, to have it come off the way it was supposed to do. I probably shouldn't have smiled as heavy as I did, but i sure was glad it was over. It was done, it was done well. i was glad for everybody in Spokane who took so many risks, and worked so hard. And so many of them had to leave town because that was their job, and they would have nice memories of us, but. . . I mean, the Commissioner General, who went on to become an Ambassador from Canada, he came back here just to visit one time at some sort of a commemoration, and he said he'll never forget Spokane. He said that's the fair of all Expos, and he's been to all of them now, he's been the President of the Bureau of international Expositions in Paris, and he said that this is the one, not the big one, not the expensive one, not the one with the great excitement, he said that this is the one that he remembers as the one being so perfectly conceived and so well-delivered and that had such a warm feeling to it. Now that's a pretty nice way to have anybody leave you when they leave town. >>The day after the fair closed workers were already busy tearing the place apart. Man being interviewed: "The first priority occurred last night--we removed 289 light bollards off the sight to protect them from damage. And the warehouse crew and the grounds crew worked all night. And this morning why the concessionaires started to move in and take out their concessions, in fact some of them are already completely gone. And after this process, the international pavilions and the domestic pavilions will remove all of their material. And then we will go into the phase of actually removing 243,000 sq. ft. of buildings and concrete and so forth. >>As much as some would have liked it to remain as it was during EXPO, it would not. (King Cole) "And on purpose. The Bureau of International Expositions gave us permission to have an exposition of a special category, which one of the requirements was that none of the buildings were permanent. We had to take them all down. And we liked that because we wanted to have a park, and the more you leave up, the harder it is to get rid of. So we could just say 'I'm sorry, the rules are set. We have to take 'em down. >>By design only three buildings remained where they were during the fair. Its vinyl top is now just a memory, and the IMAX theater has been moved to the side, but the U.S. pavilion is still a prominent fixture of the Spokane skyline. The Opera House and Convention Center--which has since been expanded--are also city landmarks. And the unique copper-topped building which was the temporary home to the Bavarian Beer Gardens during the fair, was always meant to be the permanent home of the now-beloved carousel. After the fair, the city wasted little time transforming this area into a park. (Jack O'Brien) "That's what we were committed to do, and we honored that commitment. But, I think probably the most important contribution that that park has made to Spokane is that it has provided a kind of an anchor to downtown. Downtown Spokane is different from most other downtowns because it has Riverfront Park, see. And even though that has seen its peaks and valleys since EXPO '74, it's still there, it's still functional, and it's still to a very, very commendable degree serving the purpose for which it was intended." >>The park itself is an important legacy to Spokane residents, but so is the self-esteem which was built along with it. (Jack O'Brien) "Probably more than any other measurable impact, it was in their opinion of themselves. In their own ego as a community. Up until that time Spokane had been just sort of a nice sort of a railroad town that had grown up because there were a lot of wheat fields around us, and a lot of mines to the east of us. But, beyond that we really weren't all that much. But then all of a sudden, we're a good enough, a big enough, a strong enough town to put on an International Exposition. And I think it changed, at least for those days, the image that people had of themselves in Spokane. That we are different; that we are 'Spokane'." Now, some people may say, that these are qualities that people of this city no longer possess. But others believe that you just have to know where to look. (King Cole) "We gotta keep on being nice to each other, and thoughtful. Not only thoughtful, but thoughtful in the buildings you build; thoughtful in the ways you raise your children; thoughtful the way the children act, and in the way business people treat their employees and treat each other. "We always very close to being successful in that, very close to major success, and we came there during the fair. We hit it because the stimulus was there. And it'll come back full bore anytime we want it to--if we want it to." >>What the future holds for Spokane and the park is another story we will have to wait for time to reveal. However, there's no denying the impact that EXPO '74 had on Spokane. Countless people gave part of themselves to make it, and this park, a reality. And they realize that most of the people who enjoy it today and in the years to come will never even know their names. But as one EXPO official put it, 'That's okay, as long as Spokanites do remember that once there was a generation that cared enough about this city's future to give its people a legacy they can be proud of.'