The 1967 International and Universal Exposition or Expo 67, as it was commonly known, was the general exhibition, Category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It is considered to be the most successful World's Fair of the 20th century, with the most attendees (50 million visits) to that date and 62 nations participating. It also set the single-day attendance record for a world's fair, with 569,000 visitors on its third day.
Expo 67 was Canada's main celebration during its centennial year. The fair was originally intended to be held in Moscow, to help the Soviet Union celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution but, for various reasons, the Soviets decided to cancel, and Canada was awarded it in the fall of 1962.
The project was not originally overwhelmingly supported in Canada. It took the determination of Montreal's mayor, Jean Drapeau, and a new team of managers to guide it past political, physical and temporal hurdles. Defying a computer analysis that said it could not be done, the fair opened on time. A major factor that contributed to the success of Expo '67 was its relative proximity to, and ease of access from (through newly opened I-87), New York City. Many visitors who had attended the World Fair held in Flushing, NY, only 2 years prior were attracted to the prospect of reliving a similar event in Montreal. US mainstream media attention to the event and its sheer magnitude also contributed to the record attendance numbers.
After Expo 67 ended in October 1967, the site and most of the pavilions lived on as an exhibition called Man and His World, open during the summer months from 1968 until 1981. By that time, most of the buildings, which had not been designed to last beyond the original exhibition, had deteriorated and were dismantled. Today, the islands that hosted the world exhibition are mainly used as parkland and for recreational use, with only a few remaining structures from Expo 67 to show that the event was held there. Many Canadians from that time still regard it as one of the country's finest cultural achievements.
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The idea of hosting the 1967 World Exhibition dates back to 1956, but it was in 1958 that Conservative Senator Mark Drouin suggested during his speech at the Brussels Exhibition that Canada should host a World Exhibition to celebrate its centennial. Initially, the exposition was offered to Toronto but politicians there rejected the idea. However, Montreal's mayor, Sarto Fournier, backed the proposal, allowing Canada to make a bid to the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE). At the BIE's May 5, 1960 meeting in Paris, Moscow was awarded the fair after five rounds of voting that eliminated Austria's and then Canada's bids.[1] In April 1962, the Soviets scrapped plans to host the fair because of financial constraints and concerns about travelers bringing western ideas and customs to the Soviet public.[2] Montreal's new mayor, Jean Drapeau, lobbied the Canadian government to try again for the fair, which they did. On November 13, 1962,[3] the BIE changed the location of the World Exhibition to Canada, and Expo 67 went on to become the fourth-best attended of all BIE-sanctioned world expositions, as of 2010 (after Osaka, Paris and Expo 2010 Shanghai[4])
It was a cultural festival not only celebrating 100 years of Canada but it was also a world class exhibition which featured many nations. Each nation that was represented showed off some part of their culture. Whether it was artwork, sculptures, crown jewels, a technological achievement, each country, province, state or territory that was represented was magnificent. Religions were portrayed, themes such as “Man and the Oceans”, even the United Nations was represented. It was a cultural phenomenon that has maintained its aroma to this day. There are websites that take you through many aspects of it and there are tales of people of all ages who attended it. “When organizers planned this world exposition, they had predicted that only 35 million people would show up. In fact, the enormous success of Expo caught the organizers off guard and much to their surprise, between April 28 and October 29, 1967, over 50 million people from around the world showed up. And much to a visitor's consternation, some of the line-ups just to get into some pavilions would be at least a few hours. In the end, all the Expo pavilions were well worth seeing."[5]
Several sites were proposed as the main Expo grounds. One location that was considered was Mount Royal Park, to the north of the downtown core.[6] But it was Drapeau's idea to create new islands in the St. Lawrence river, along with enlarging the existing Île Sainte-Hélène. The choice overcame opposition from Montreal's surrounding municipalities, and also prevented land speculation.[7]
Expo did not get off to a smooth start; in 1963, many top organizing committee officials resigned. One of the reasons for the resignations was that a computer program predicted that the event could not possibly be constructed in time.[8] Another, more likely, reason for the mass resignations was that on April 22, 1963, the federal Liberal government of Prime Minister Lester Pearson took power. This meant that former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservative government appointees to the board of directors of the Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibition were likely forced to resign.[9]
Pierre Dupuy, a diplomat, was named Commissioner General, after Diefenbaker appointee Paul Bienvenu resigned from the post in 1963.[10] One of the main responsibilities of the Commissioner General was to attract other nations to build pavilions at Expo.[10] Dupuy would spend most of 1964 and 1965 soliciting 125 countries, spending more time abroad than in Canada.[11] Dupuy's 'right-hand' man was Robert Fletcher Shaw, the deputy commissioner general and vice-president of the fair's corporation.[11] He also replaced a Diefenbaker appointee, C.F. Carsley.[11] Shaw was a professional engineer and builder, and he was in charge when Dupuy was away.[11] Dupuy hired Andrew Kniewasser as the general manager. The management group became known as Les Durs - the tough guys - and they were in charge of creating, building and managing Expo.[11] Les Durs consisted of: Jean-Claude Delorme, Legal Counsel and Secretary of the Corporation; Dale Rediker, Director of Finances; Colonel Edward Churchill, Director of Installations; Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien, Director of Operations, dubbed "The Mayor of Expo"; Pierre de Bellefeuille, Director of Exhibitors; and Yves Jasmin, Director of Information, Advertising and Public Relations.[12]
As historian Pierre Berton put it, the cooperation between Canada's French and English speaking communities "was the secret of Expo's success — 'the Québécois flair, the English-Canadian pragmatism.'"[13] However, Berton also points out that this is an over-simplification of national stereotypes. Arguably Expo did, for a short period anyway, bridge the 'Two Solitudes.'[14]
In May 1963, a group of prominent Canadian thinkers — including Alan Jarvis, director of the National Gallery of Canada; novelists Hugh MacLennan and Gabrielle Roy; J. Tuzo Wilson, geophysicist; and Claude Robillard, town planner — met for three days at the Seigneury Club in Montebello, Quebec.[15] The theme, "Man and His World", was based on the 1939 book entitled Terre des Hommes (translated as Wind, Sand and Stars) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. In Roy's introduction to the Expo 67 corporation's book, entitled Terre des Hommes/Man and His World, she elucidates the theme:
In Terre des Hommes, his haunting book, so filled with dreams and hopes for the future, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry writes of how deeply moved he was when, flying for the first time by night alone over Argentina, he happened to notice a few flickering lights scattered below him across an almost empty plain. They "twinkled here and there, alone like stars." .... In truth, being made aware of our own solitude can give us insight into the solitude of others. It can even cause us to gravitate towards one another as if to lessen our distress. Without this inevitable solitude, would there be any fusion at all, any tenderness between human beings. Moved as he was by a heightened awareness of the solitude of all creation and by the human need for solidarity, Saint-Exupéry found a phrase to express his anguish and his hope that was as simple as it was rich in meaning; and because that phrase was chosen many years later to be the governing idea of Expo 67, a group of people from all walks of life was invited by the Corporation to reflect upon it and to see how it could be given tangible form.
— Gabrielle Roy[16]
The organizers also created seventeen theme elements for Man and his World:[17]
Construction started on August 13, 1963, when Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson pulled a lever that signalled a front-end loader to dump the first batch of fill to enlarge Île Sainte-Hélène.[19] The 25 million tons of fill needed to construct the islands was coming from the Montreal metro's excavations, a public works project that was already under construction before Expo was awarded to Montreal.[20] Expo's initial period of construction mainly centred on enlarging Île Ste-Hélène and creating the artificial island of Île Notre-Dame. While construction continued, the land rising out of Montreal harbour was not owned by the Expo Corporation yet. After the final mounds of earth completed the islands, the grounds that would hold the fair were officially transferred from the City of Montreal to the corporation on June 20, 1964.[10] This gave Colonel Churchill only 1042 days to have everything built and functioning for opening day. To get Expo built in time, Churchill used the then new project management tool known as the critical path method (CPM).[21] On April 28, 1967, opening day, everything was ready, with one exception: Habitat 67, which was then displayed as a work in progress.[22]
Building and enlarging the islands, along with the new Concorde Bridge built to connect them with the site-specific mass transit system known as the Montreal Expo Express, plus a boat pier, cost more than the Saint Lawrence Seaway project did only five years earlier: this was even before any buildings or infrastructure were constructed.[10] With the initial phase of construction completed, it is easy to see why the budget for the exhibition was going to be larger than anyone expected. In the fall of 1963, Expo's general manager, Andrew Kniewasser, presented the master plan and the preliminary budget of $167 million for construction: it would balloon to over $439 million by 1967. The plan and budget narrowly passed a vote in Pearson's federal cabinet, passing by one vote, and then it was officially submitted on December 23, 1963.[23]
The logo was designed by Montreal artist Julien Hébert. The basic unit of the logo is an ancient symbol of man. Two of the symbols (pictograms of 'man') are linked as to represent friendship. The icon was repeated in a circular arrangement to represent 'friendship around the world'. The logotype is lower-case bold-face, Optima font. It did not enjoy unanimous support from federal politicians, as some of them tried to kill it with a motion in the Canadian House of Commons.[9]
The official Expo 67 theme song was composed by Stephane Venne and was titled: "Hey Friend, Say Friend/Un Jour, Un Jour". Complaints were made about the suitability of the song, as its lyrics mentioned neither Montreal nor Expo 67. The song was selected from an international competition. Over 2,200 entries from 35 countries were made.
However, the song that most Canadians associate with Expo was written by Bobby Gimby, a veteran commercial jingle writer who composed the popular Centennial tune "Ca-na-da", which went on to sell over 500,000 copies. Gimby earned the name the "Pied Piper of Canada". The music for "Ca-na-da" was arranged by Ben McPeek, who also composed the music played in the Canadian Pulp and Paper Industry pavilion. In 1971, Gimby granted all future royalties to the Boy Scouts of Canada.
The theme song "Something to Sing About", used for the Canadian pavilion, was initially written for a 1963 television special.
The Ontario pavilion also had its own theme song: "A Place to Stand, A Place to Grow", which has evolved to become an unofficial theme song for the province.
Official opening ceremonies were held on Thursday afternoon, April 27, 1967.[24] The ceremonies were an invitation-only event, held at Place des Nations. Governor General of Canada Roland Michener proclaimed the exhibition open after the Expo flame was ignited by Prime Minister Pearson. On hand were over 7,000 media and invited guests including 53 heads of state. Over 1,000 reporters covered the event, broadcast in NTSC Colour, live via satellite, to a worldwide audience of over 700 million viewers and listeners.[25]
Expo 67 officially opened to the public on the morning of Friday, April 28, 1967, with a space age style countdown. A capacity crowd at Place d'Accueil participated in the atomic clock-controlled countdown that ended when the exhibition opened precisely at 9:30 a.m. An estimated crowd of between 310,000 and 335,000 visitors showed up for opening day, as opposed to the expected crowd of 200,000.[26] The first person through the Expo gates at Place d'Accueil was Al Carter, a 41-year-old jazz drummer from Chicago, who was recognized for his accomplishment by Expo 67's director of operations Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien.[26] Beaubien presented Carter with a gold watch for his feat.[27]
On opening day, there was considerable comment on the uniform of the hostesses from the UK Pavilion. The dresses had been designed to the then new minidress style, popularised a few years earlier by Mary Quant.[28] By the middle of the summer, nearly every other pavilion had raised the hem of the uniforms of their hostesses. Canadian women were quick to take to the liberated style of the miniskirt.
The World Festival of Art and Entertainment at Expo 67 featured art galleries, opera, ballet and theatre companies, orchestras, jazz groups, famous Canadian pop musicians and other cultural attractions.[29] Many pavilions had music and performance stages, where visitors could find free concerts and shows. Most of the featured entertainment took place in the following venues: La Place des Arts; Expo Theatre; Place des Nations; La Ronde and Automotive Stadium.[29]
The La Ronde amusement park was always intended to be a lasting legacy of the fair. Most of its rides and booths were permanent. When the Expo fairgrounds closed nightly, at around 10:00 p.m., visitors could still be entertained at La Ronde, which closed at 2:30 a.m.[29]
In addition, The Ed Sullivan Show was broadcast live on May 7 and May 21 from Expo 67. Stars on the shows included America's The Supremes, Britain's Petula Clark and Australia's The Seekers.[30]
The fair was visited by many of the most notable people of the day including Queen Elizabeth II, Lyndon Johnson, Princess Grace, Jacqueline Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Ethiopia's leader Haile Selassie, Charles de Gaulle, Bing Crosby, Harry Belafonte, Maurice Chevalier, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Marlene Dietrich. Musicians like Thelonious Monk, Grateful Dead, Tiny Tim, and Jefferson Airplane entertained the crowds.
Internationalism was an important theme at Expo 67. This was the first time that Canada and more importantly Québec had opened its doors to such a large number of countries. Expo 67 was not strictly a Canadian event but it was located here for the whole world to see. "When the lights go out for the last time, when the crowds have left the pavilions and the avenues, a World Exhibition begins a new life. Less glittering but more profound, this new life is nourished in the souls of those who visited the Exhibition, and it will blossom into a legend for generations to come."[31]
Expo 67 was a complete sign of modernity in Québec. At the tail end of the Quiet Revolution, it was a perfect way to keep the ideas and success of the revolution continuous through the next decade. This event showed exactly what kind of place Québec was going to be in the future. With the political leaders at the time in favor of changes all over Québec, the province was ready for a complete makeover. Being 7 years after the old, conservative Union Nationale had lost power and a string of liberal leaders took over, Québec had been screaming for a chance to show the world who they were. "The cannonade of fireworks which marked the opening of Expo...may in retrospect turn out to have been one of those rare moments that changed the direction of a nation's history...This is the greatest thing we have ever done as a nation and surely the modernization of Canada -- of its skylines, of its styles, its institutions -- will be dated from this occasion and from this fair.... The more you see of it, the more you're overwhelmed by a feeling that if this is possible, that if this little sub-arctic, self-obsessed country of 20,000,000 people can put on this kind of show, then it can do almost anything."[32]
Despite its successes, there were problems: Front de libération du Québec militants had initially threatened to disrupt the exhibition, but were inactive during this period. Vietnam war protesters picketed during the opening day, April 28. American President Lyndon B. Johnson's visit became a focus of war protesters. The Cuba pavilion attracted threats that it would be destroyed by anti-Castro forces that never materialized.[33] In June, the Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East flared up again in the Six Day War, which resulted in Kuwait pulling out of the fair in protest to the way Western nations dealt with the war.[33] The president of France, Charles De Gaulle, caused an international incident on July 24 when he addressed thousands at Montreal City Hall by yelling out the now famous words "Vive Montréal... Vive le Québec ...Vive le Québec Libre!"
In September, the most serious problem turned out to be a 30-day transit strike. By the end of July, estimates predicted that Expo would exceed 60 million visitors, but the strike cut deeply into attendance and revenue figures, just as the fair was cruising to its conclusion.[33] Another major problem, beyond the control of Expo's management, was guest accommodation and lodging. Logexpo was created to direct visitors to accommodations in the Montreal area, which usually meant that visitors would stay at the homes of people they were unfamiliar with, rather than traditional hotels or motels. The Montreal populace opened their homes to thousands of guests. Unfortunately for some visitors, they were sometimes sent to less than respectable establishments where operators took full advantage of the tourist trade. Management of Logexpo was refused to Expo and was managed by a Quebec provincial authority. Still, Expo would get most of the blame for directing visitors to these establishments. But overall, a visit to Expo from outside Montreal was still seen as a bargain.[33]
Expo 67 closed on Sunday afternoon, October 29, 1967. On the final day 221,554 visitors added to the more than 50 million (50,306,648) that attended Expo 67 at a time when Canada's population was only 20 million, setting a per-capita record for World Exhibition attendance that still stands.[34] Starting at 2:00 p.m., Expo Commissioner General Pierre Dupuy officiated over the medal ceremony, in which participating nations and organizations received gold and silver medallions, as well as the ceremony in which national flags were lowered in the reverse order to which they had been raised, with Canada's flag lowered first and Nigeria's lowered last.[33] After Prime Minister Pearson doused the Expo flame, Governor General Michener closed Expo at Place des Nations with the mournful spontaneous farewell: "It is with great regret that I declare that the Universal and International Exhibition of 1967 has come to an official end."[33] All rides and the minirail were shut down by 3:50 p.m., and the Expo grounds closed at 4:00 p.m., with the last Expo Express train leaving for Place d'Accueil at that time.[33] A fireworks display, that went on for an hour, was Expo's concluding event.[33]
Expo performed better financially than expected. Expo was intended to have a deficit, shared between the federal, provincial and municipal levels of government. Significantly better-than-expected attendance revenue reduced the debt to well below the original estimates. The final financial statistics, in 1967 Canadian dollars, were: revenues of $221,239,872, costs of $431,904,683, and a deficit of $210,664,811.[34]
Expo 67 featured 90 pavilions representing Man and His World themes, nations, corporations, and industries including the U.S. pavilion, a geodesic dome designed by Buckminster Fuller. Expo 67 also featured the Habitat 67 modular housing complex designed by architect Moshe Safdie, which was later purchased by private individuals and is still occupied.
The most popular pavilion was the Soviet Union's exhibit. It attracted about 13 million visitors.[35] Rounding out the top five pavilions, in terms of attendance were: the Canadian Pavilion (11 million visitors), the United States (9 million), France (8.5 million), and Czechoslovakia (8 million).[35]
The participating countries were:
Some absent countries were Spain, South Africa (banned from BIE-sanctioned events due to its apartheid policy), the People's Republic of China and many countries of South America.
After 1967, the exposition struggled for several summer seasons as a standing collection of international pavilions known as "Man and His World." However, as attendance declined, the physical condition of the site deteriorated, and less and less of it was open to the public. In 1975 the Île Notre-Dame section of the site was completely rebuilt around the new rowing and canoe sprint (then flatwater canoeing) basin for Montreal's 1976 Summer Olympics. Space for the basin, the boathouses, the changing rooms and other buildings was obtained by demolishing many of the former pavilions and cutting in half the area taken by the artificial lake and the canals. In 1976, a fire destroyed the acrylic outer skin of Buckminster Fuller's dome. With the site falling into disrepair, it began to resemble ruins of a futuristic city. In the late 1970s, scenes for Robert Altman's post-apocalyptic ice age film Quintet were shot on site, as was the "Greetings from Earth" episode of Battlestar Galactica, which portrayed it as the ruins of a city left behind after a biological attack. The music video for the song Ghost Town by Cheap Trick was also shot on this site. Some of the footage showing the United Kingdom pavilion was reused in Buck Rogers. Minor thematic exhibitions were held at the Atlantic pavilion and Quebec pavilion, until the Montreal Casino was built. The remaining original exhibits of the site closed for good in 1982.
After the Man and his World summer exhibitions were discontinued, the former site for Expo 67 on Île Sainte-Hélène and Île Notre-Dame was incorporated into a municipal park run by the city of Montreal.[36] In the year 2000, the park was renamed from Parc des Îles to Parc Jean-Drapeau, after Mayor Jean-Drapeau, who brought the exhibition to Montreal. In 2006, the corporation that runs the park also changed its name from the Société du parc des Îles to the Société du parc Jean-Drapeau.[36] Two prominent buildings remaining in use on the Expo grounds are the surviving metal-lattice skeleton of the Buckminster Fuller dome (now enclosing an environmental sciences museum called Biosphère) and the Habitat 67 residences. Also, the French and Quebec pavilions now form the Montreal Casino. La Toundra Hall[37] is part of the surviving structural remains of the Canadian pavilion. It is now a restaurant and special events hall.[37] Another part of the pavilion now serves as the administration building of Parc Jean-Drapeau.[38] Katimavik's distinctive inverted pyramid and much of the rest of the Canadian pavilion were dismantled during the 1970s. The Jamaican pavilion was recently rebuilt, and Place des Nations, where the opening and closing ceremonies were held, also survives. A part of the Korean pavilion remains as a shelter for the bus route that connects the Montreal Casino with the island's metro station. Additionally, the former Tunisian Pavilion exists as a City of Montreal/Parc Jean Drapeau administration and logistics center. It is within the vicinity of the Cosmos Bridge, which connects Île Sainte-Hélène to Île Notre-Dame. The bridge linked the two islands and at either end were the American and Soviet Pavilions respectively. Other remaining structures include sculptures, lampposts and landscaping. The Montreal Metro subway still has at least one "Man and His World" logo on a station's wall. La Ronde survives and is expanding. In 2001 it was leased to the New York amusement park company Six Flags.[36] The Alcan Aquarium built for the Expo remained in operation for a number of decades until its closure in 1991. The Expo 67 parking lot was converted into Victoria STOLport, a short-take off airport for several years.
Another attraction on today's Île Notre-Dame site is the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve race track that was used for the Canadian Grand Prix. The Olympic basin is used today by many local rowing clubs. A recently built beach on the shores of the remaining artificial lake, has been very popular during the summer months. There are many acres of parkland and cycle paths on both Île Sainte-Hélène and the western tip of Île Notre-Dame. In previous years the site has been used for a number of events such as a BIE sponsored international botanical festival, Les floralies. The young trees and shrubs planted for Expo 67 are now mature. The plants introduced during the botanical events have flourished also. In the warmest weeks of the summer the two islands are cool, leafy havens compared to the overheated city. In the winter, brave Montrealers skate on the frozen Olympic basin, whipped by the glacial winds coming from the Saint Lawrence River.
In a political and cultural context, Expo 67 was seen as a landmark moment in Canadian history.[39] As the Montreal Star described it: "the most staggering Canadian achievement since this vast land was finally linked by a transcontinental railway". In 1969, as a salute to the cultural impact the exhibition had on the city, Montreal's new Major League baseball team, the Expos, was named after the event. 1967 was also the year that invited Expo guest Charles De Gaulle, on July 24, addressed thousands at Montreal City Hall by yelling out the now famous words: "Vive Montréal... Vive le Québec... Vive le Québec Libre!" (See Vive le Québec libre speech). De Gaulle was rebutted in Ottawa by Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson: "Canadians do not need to be liberated, Canada will remain united and will reject any effort to destroy her unity". In the years that followed, the tensions between the English and French communities would continue. As a contemporary homage to the fair, satirists Bowser and Blue wrote a full-length musical set at Expo 67 called "The Paris of America" which ran for six sold-out weeks at Centaur Theatre in Montreal in April and May 2003. Also, the song "Purple Toupee" by They Might Be Giants contains the line "I shouted out 'Free the Expo 67!'" In The Simpsons episode "She Used to Be My Girl" (2004), when Homer is trying to convince Marge she led a good life, one of the things he mentions is that she has a "TV tray from Expo 67."
Expo 67 was one of the most successful World Exhibitions and is still regarded fondly by Canadians. Some even consider it to be one of the biggest events of the 20th century. 1967 is often referred to as "the last good year" before economic decline, Quebec sovereigntism (seen as negative from a federalist viewpoint), and political apathy became common.[40] In this way, it has much in common with the 1964-65 New York World's Fair. In 2007, a new group, Expo 17, is looking to bring a smaller-scale–BIE sanctioned–exposition to Montreal for the 50th anniversary of Expo 67 and Canada's Sesquicentennial in 2017.[41] Expo 17 hopes a new world's fair will regenerate the spirit of Canada's landmark centennial project.[41]
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