Long-time residents remember attending Spokane’s Expo ’74, but many others, including those coordinating the 50th anniversary celebration, weren’t alive or not in Spokane at the time.
Documentarian Tom McArthur faced that dilemma as he planned his new program about Spokane’s world’s fair that will debut Saturday night on KSPS Public Television. How do you make a program that all viewers will find interesting?
From the start, McArthur says he knew he had to tell a story that would appeal to the people with Expo memories and the people who wish they had Expo memories. That meant telling a story that may already be known to some.
"That the park [Riverfront Park] didn't just happen, didn't happen overnight, lots of good people made that happen and that we, as a community, did several firsts on the world stage with Expo '74," he said.
There’s not much new left to say about the fair. Most of its leading figures have passed. Most of the major documents have been saved and studied. But McArthur says he did find a few new nuggets, including about how the city acquired much of the railroad land that housed the fair. He says the main character was James Cowles from the company that owns the Spokesman-Review.
“Meet Me By the River,” a new documentary about the world’s fair by Tom McArthur and Scott McKinnon, will debut on KSPS Public Television Saturday night at 8.
