Spokane’s Expo ’74 50th anniversary celebration has begun, even though the date of the world’s fair’s grand opening is still three weeks away.
On Friday Gonzaga University’s Institute for Climate, Water and the Environment looked back at the fair’s theme, the world’s environmental challenges. The symposium considered the progress made in improving and protecting the Spokane River and the future of environmental justice in the Inland Northwest.
Vanessa Waldref, the U.S. Attorney for Eastern Washington, was one of the moderators. She noted the Spokane River is cleaner than it was in 1974.
“Yet we still have pervasive challenges with toxics in our water and we don’t have the ability for our river to support salmon right now, with low summer river flows and high water temperatures. These challenges reflect the limitations of our current environmental laws and limitations that are seen on a larger scale, across many other environmental issues,” she said.
Representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, Washington state attorney general’s office and Spokane Riverkeeper were among the other speakers.
The symposium was one of the first significant events of the 50th anniversary celebration. Dozens of other events will be wedged into the two-month period that will begin with a Riverfront Park party that will be thrown on the date of the world’s fair’s May 4 opening.
“It will have lights, drone shows, cover bands, Earth, Wind and Fire cover band. It will have music and entertainment as well as reflections on the world’s fair 50 years ago, where we’ve come in the past 50 years and where we want to go in the next 50 years,” said Program Manager Matt Santangelo.
The celebration will end on Independence Day with another party and fireworks show at Riverfront Park. In between, there will be dozens of events, some organized by the Expo committee. Some are Spokane staples, including Bloomsday, Lilac Festival events and Hoopfest.
Wide range of Expo celebratory events
The Expo ’74 50th anniversary committee lists more than 90 events on its website. Some are mostly social events, some are cultural, others hue closer to the fair’s environmental theme.
For the latter, for example, the city of Spokane Parks Department is offering kayak tours of the Spokane River between Upriver Park and downtown’s Division Street Bridge. The Spokane Audubon Society is offering weekly walks for birders. The Spokane County Library District is offering six public forums devoted to discussions of climate change.
The Spokane Indians baseball club will also celebrate Expo’s legacy. The team created special uniforms that its players will wear for four games this summer.
“That’s probably one of the most unique ways in which teams can show their appreciation and tip of the cap towards a lot of these different events,” Indians Senior Vice President Otto Klein said.
“It’s unique and it’s special and fans really like that, so that’s how, most of the time, we like to engage,” he said.
Klein says the jerseys incorporate the world’s fair logo.
“We went back. We got the font. We got the look of that era. We came up with some concepts and we vetted them through. We landed on one which we really think that fans are going to love. It’s big. It’s bold. The hat says Expo ’74 on it. The jersey says Expo. It’s really an exciting thing for us,” he said.
Fans can buy the Expo-themed jerseys too.
The new uniforms will be unveiled on May 4 when the team plays the Eugene Emeralds. Klein says fireworks will follow the game.
Join the club
The organizing committee created Club ’74, allowing people to donate $74 and get free access to some events. Santangelo says the goal is to attract 1,974 donations. He expects the campaign will exceed that.
Santangelo says the organizers also recently created a corporate version of Club ’74. Members can join with a $1,974 gift.
“We’ve had a ton of interesting groups that want to be involved, but maybe don’t know how,” he said. “This is the right level for them to participate in. It’s not asking them for huge sponsorship dollars. The money [as with the individual donations] goes to helping us underwrite all the things that we’re doing.”
The celebration’s events will be free for everyone to enjoy.
With the major activities now in sight, Santangelo says the community is beginning to experience Expo fever.
“This is a community brand,” he said. “I just saw an STA bus that’s wrapped in Expo 50 celebration. We want the whole community to represent the mobius [the world’s fair’s geometric logo.”
One other Expo note: On May 11, KSPS PBS will air a new documentary, “Meet Me By the River: Expo/50,” telling the story of Spokane’s world’s fair.
