Expo 67 was held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The opening week began at the end of April 1967. The official opening ceremonies for the 1967 International and Universal Exposition or Expo 67 occurred on Thursday, April 27 at the Place des Nations pavilion. On Friday, April 28, Expo 67's doors opened to the public and Al Carter was the first of over 310,000 visitors that day.
As luck would have it, it was a sunny day on Thursday afternoon, April 27, 1967, when the Official Opening Ceremonies were held.[1] The ceremonies were held at Place des Nations, where Governor GeneralRoland Michener – who was sworn in just 10 days earlier following the death of the previous Governor General, Georges Vanier – officially opened the fair. The Expo flame, which was lit two years earlier as part of the Centennial celebrations, was carried in by a troop of 12 cadets from the Collège militaire royal de Saint-Jean, metaphorically representing each province and territory in Canada at that time. The torch bearer was Joseph Philip Lonuel, who proceeded to pass on the torch up the hierarchy of governance: to the Commissioner General of the Fair, Pierre Dupuy; then to the Mayor of Montreal, Jean Drapeau; then to the Premier of Quebec, Daniel Johnson, Sr.; then finally to the Prime Minister of Canada, Lester B. Pearson who was the last in the chain.[2] The Prime Minister used the torch to light the Expo flame. On hand were over 7,000 media and invited guests including 53 heads of state. Over 1000 reporters covered the event, which was broadcast in NTSC Color, live via satellite, to a worldwide audience of over 700,000,000 viewers and listeners.[3] The Golden Centennaires, the forerunners of the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, closed the opening ceremonies with a fly-by over the Expo site and Montreal harbour.
Open to the public
Expo 67 officially opened to the public on the morning of Friday, April 28, 1967. By 8:30a.m., an overflowing crowd was packed into the main gate area of Place d'Accueil in anticipation of the opening.[4] As an atomic clock co-ordinated the final countdown, the crowd listened to the bilingual countdown announcements over the fair's public address system. With 30 seconds to go, the crowd started participating, mostly in English, and drowned out the public address system in the final ten seconds.[4] At precisely 9:30a.m. EST, four and half years of lobbying and construction were over, Expo 67 opened its doors to the world.[5]
The other entry point into the fair on April 28 was at the Île-Sainte-HélèneMontreal metro station, which itself was having its first day of service; the yellow line of the metro had opened on April 1, but Île-Sainte-Hélène station had been kept closed to the public until Expo opened.[6] By 8:45a.m., the metro station was overflowing with visitors and they had to be let onto the fair grounds as a public safety precaution. So, unofficially Expo 67 opened at 8:45a.m. due to the much better than anticipated crowds.[4]
An estimated crowd of between 310,000 and 335,000 visitors showed up for opening day,[7] as opposed to only 200,000 people the authorities expected. The first person through the Expo main gates at Place d'Accueil was Al Carter,[8] a 41-year-old jazz drummer from Chicago, who as Pierre Berton describes:
[Carter] already had a reputation as "the first man at world's fairs." Four years earlier he had written to Jean Drapeau about Expo, but failed to get an answer. That didn't dismay him. He began to bombard expo officials with requests for the No. 1 ticket to the fair. "If Expo ever issues a certificate for the most persistent and tenacious visitor to the fair," Expo's admissions sales manager, J.P. Lussier, wrote to him, "the name of Al Carter would be inscribed in gold."[9]
Al Carter pictured with his first ticket and a gold watch at Expo 67
Carter was able to buy ticket00001 for a seven-day Expo passport and get the assistant area manager of the main gate, Richard J. Kaufman to write "This gentleman was waiting at Place d'Accueil this morning at 9:30 for the general public opening. To our knowledge this man is the first in line at Expo."[10] The night before the opening, he joined the preliminary queue with a group of 25 other people and they allowed him to proceed to the front of the line. Carter received a gold watch from Expo 67's director of operations Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien, who was very impressed with his achievement.[10]
On opening day, there was considerable comment regarding the UK Pavilion hostesses' uniforms. The dresses had been designed to the then new minidress style, which had been introduced in the previous year by Mary Quant. 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 mini skirt.[11]
Record crowds
In the first three days alone, over a million visitors attended the fair. On Sunday, April 30, Expo 67 had its busiest day of the entire fair: 569,500 people strolled through its gates, setting an all-time, single-day attendance record for World's Fairs, that still stands as of 2007.[10] Attendance figures were significantly more than originally anticipated by the Stamford Research Institute, an American firm hired in 1963 by the Expo Corporation to be its foreign-based advisors.[12] The institute predicted back in the initial planning stages, that only 12 million people would attend for the entire six months that it was open. In actuality, almost that many visitors attended in its first month. This was the same institute that ran a computer analysis that claimed Expo could not be built in time.[13] Like the computer analysis before it, the report was ignored by the Expo corporation, which then promptly fired the institute and did their own attendance forecasts in 1964 that were also low, but closer to reality. Expo 67 would go on to have over 50 million visitors by October 29, 1967, making it the third best ever attended World's Fair of the 20th century.[14]
References and notes
↑ Back to the Future, Opening Ceremonies television broadcast
↑ OECD (2008). Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Local Development Benefits from Staging Global Events. OECD Publishing. p.54. ISBN978-9264042070.
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 28 to October 27, 1967. It was a category one world's fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most successful World's Fairs of the 20th century with the most attendees to that date and 62 nations participating. It also set the single-day attendance record for a world's fair, with 569,500 visitors on its third day.
Habitat 67, or simply Habitat, is a housing complex at Cité du Havre, on the Saint Lawrence River, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, designed by Israeli-Canadian architect Moshe Safdie. It originated in his master's thesis at the School of Architecture at McGill University and then an amended version was built for Expo 67, a World's Fair held from April to October 1967. Its address is 2600 Avenue Pierre-Dupuy, next to the Marc-Drouin Quay. Habitat 67 is considered an architectural landmark and a recognized building in Montreal.
1967 is remembered as one of the most notable years in Canada. It was the centenary of Canadian Confederation and celebrations were held throughout the nation. The most prominent event was Expo 67 in Montreal, the most successful World's Fair ever held up to that time, and one of the first events to win international acclaim for the country. The year saw the nation's Governor General, Georges Vanier, die in office; and two prominent federal leaders, Official Opposition Leader John Diefenbaker, and Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson announced their resignations. The year's top news-story was French President Charles de Gaulle's "Vive le Québec libre" speech in Montreal. The year also saw major changes in youth culture with the "hippies" in Toronto's Yorkville area becoming front-page news over their lifestyle choices and battles with Toronto City Council. A new honours system was announced, the Order of Canada. In sports, the Toronto Maple Leafs won their 13th and last Stanley Cup.
Olympic Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Montreal, Canada, located at Olympic Park in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district of the city. Built in the mid-1970s as the main venue for the 1976 Summer Olympics, it is nicknamed "The Big O", a reference to both its name and to the doughnut-shape of the permanent component of the stadium's roof. It is also disparagingly referred to as "The Big Owe" in reference to the high cost of its construction and of hosting the 1976 Olympics as a whole.
The Canadian Centennial was a yearlong celebration held in 1967 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation. Celebrations in Canada occurred throughout the year but culminated on Dominion Day, July 1. Commemorative coins were minted, that were different from typical issues with animals on each — the cent, for instance, had a dove on its reverse. Communities and organizations across Canada were encouraged to engage in Centennial projects to celebrate the anniversary. The projects ranged from special one-time events to local improvement projects, such as the construction of municipal arenas and parks. The Centennial Flame was also added to Parliament Hill. Children born in 1967 were declared Centennial babies.
1967: The Last Good Year is the original title of a book written by Canadian author Pierre Berton. When it appeared in paperback, the title was changed to 1967: Canada's Turning Point. The book describes events of 1967 in Canada which was the Canadian Centennial.
"Vive le Québec libre !" was a phrase in a speech delivered by French President Charles de Gaulle in Montreal, Quebec on July 24, 1967, during an official visit to Canada for the Expo 67 world's fair. While giving an address to a large crowd from a balcony at Montreal City Hall, he uttered "Vive Montréal ! Vive le Québec !" and then added, followed by loud applause, "Vive le Québec libre !" with particular emphasis on the word libre. The phrase, a slogan used by Quebecers who favoured Quebec sovereignty, was seen as giving his support to the movement.
Expo '98 was an official specialised World's Fair held in Lisbon, Portugal from Friday, 22 May to Wednesday, 30 September 1998. The theme of the fair was "The Oceans, a Heritage for the Future", chosen in part to commemorate 500 years of Portuguese discoveries. The Expo received over 10 million visitors in 132 days, while 143 countries and many organizations were represented.
The Montreal Casino, located in Montreal, Quebec, is the largest casino in Canada. Situated on Notre Dame Island, in Jean-Drapeau Park, it consists of two former Expo 67 pavilion buildings. The casino is open to the public seven days a week, operating morning until late night. It first opened on October 9, 1993.
Notre Dame Island is an artificial island in the Saint Lawrence River in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is immediately to the east of Saint Helen's Island and west of the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the city of Saint-Lambert on the south shore. Together with Saint Helen's Island, it makes up Parc Jean-Drapeau, which forms part of the Hochelaga Archipelago. To the southeast, the island is connected to the embankment separating the seaway and Lachine Rapids.
The Yellow Line, also known as Line 4, is one of the Montreal Metro's four routes operating in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Jean-Drapeau station is a Montreal Metro station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) and serves the Yellow Line. It is situated on the Saint Helen's Island in the Saint Lawrence River.
The Expo Express was a rapid transit system consisting of five stations and a 5.7-kilometre (3.5 mi) route, running from Cité du Havre to La Ronde in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Built for the 1967 World's Fair at a cost of around CAD$18 million, the trains carried 1,000 passengers each and ran approximately every five minutes.
The Biosphere, also known as the Montreal Biosphere, is a museum dedicated to the environment in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is housed in the former United States pavilion constructed for Expo 67 located within the grounds of Parc Jean-Drapeau on Saint Helen's Island. The museum's geodesic dome was designed by Buckminster Fuller.
La Ronde is an amusement park located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was originally built as the entertainment complex for Expo 67, the 1967 World Fair. Today, it is operated by Six Flags, under an emphyteutic lease with the City of Montreal until 2065. In-addition to being the Six Flags chain's northernmost location, La Ronde is the largest amusement park in Quebec and the second-largest in Canada.
Jean Drapeau Park is the third-largest park in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It comprises two islands, Saint Helen's Island and the artificial island Notre Dame Island, situated off the shore of Old Montreal in the Saint Lawrence River.
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Goose Village was a neighbourhood in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its official but less commonly used name was Victoriatown, after the adjacent Victoria Bridge. The neighbourhood was built on an area formerly known as Windmill Point, where thousands of Irish immigrants died from disease in 1847 and 1848. The entire neighborhood was demolished in 1964 as part of preparations for Expo 67, to be replaced by a football stadium and parking lot.
The 1986 World Exposition on Transportation and Communication, or simply Expo 86, was a World's Fair held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from May 2 until October 13, 1986. The fair, the theme of which was "Transportation and Communication: World in Motion – World in Touch", coincided with Vancouver's centennial and was held on the north shore of False Creek.
The Minirail was an automated monorail system on Saint Helen's and Notre Dame islands in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The network was built for the 1967 World's Fair, and continued to operate for Man and his World. The system consisted of three independent circuits operated by two different types of trains: the larger "Blue" that ran mostly on Notre Dame Island, and the smaller "Yellow" which ran on the north and south ends Saint Helen's Island.
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