Opening Day Ceremonies
On May 4th, Spokane’s Expo ‘74 opened to the public. After years of discussion, planning, setbacks, successes, and most of all work, one hundred acres of Spokane's downtown had transformed into the site of the 1974 International Exposition on the Environment - or, as most of us call it, Expo '74.
The gates opened to all ticketed visitors at 10 a.m. While the pavilions would not welcome visitors until after the opening ceremonies, the amusement rides were available right away. Most visitors looked for a place from which to view the opening ceremonies, which would be held on a floating stage in the middle of the river.
The opening ceremonies began at 10:40 with the firing of aerial salutes and a fanfare played jointly by the NORAD band and the official Expo ‘74 band. The official Expo ‘74 party was brought to the stage on an “honor barge,” escorted by members of the Quinault tribal nation in canoes. Traveling from upriver in decorated floats, the visiting nations arrived at the stage one by one. The nations exhibiting at Expo ‘74 were Australia, Canada, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), Iran, Japan, the Republic of China (Taiwan), the Republic of Korea (South Korea), the Philippines, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the United States.
As outlined in the Spokesman, “After all 10 national floats have been moored to the floating stage, a massed chorus of 1000 voices will sing, ‘What the World Needs Now Is Love, Sweet Love.’” Officials from the Washington State game department then used a large hose to fire 1,974 startled rainbow trout into the river.
Various other presentations followed, most notably entertainer Danny Kaye reading the Expo '74 Credo. The keynote speaker was, of course, President Richard Nixon. His speech praised Spokane and the state of Washington for having initiative and an independent spirit. Like most Expo exhibitors, he stretched the concept of “environment” to cover his own areas of focus: “Today, we speak of the environment in terms--as we should—of cleaning up the air and water, of a legacy of parks, of all of those other things that have to do with making our cities and our towns and our countryside more beautiful for our children and those that follow us. The environment means all those things, but environment also means other things to people. It means, for example, for every family in America a job so that he can enjoy the environment around him.”
Nixon was not having a very good time in May of 1974. Copies of the Watergate transcripts were for sale outside the Expo gates on opening day. Pro-Nixon and anti-Nixon protestors were both there. Earlier that day, when Governor Dan Evans had introduced President Nixon for a speech at Fairchild Air Force Base, Nixon had opened his remarks with "Thank you, Governor Evidence." (Youngs, “The Fair and the Falls.”) In Evans' own words, "I thought, 'God, I can't laugh. But it was really funny.'"
Whatever problems were on his mind, President Nixon didn't forget that he had a job to do at Expo '74. He concluded his speech as follows: "It is my high honor and privilege to declare Expo '74 officially open to all the citizens of the world." Bells rang, fireworks crackled, twelve hot air balloons and fifty thousand helium balloons rose into the sky. A chorus sang "Meet Me By The River," a song written just for this fair. Expo '74 was officially open.
