Expo 67 – Montreal Canada – 1967
Expo 67 was the short name of The 1967 Universal and International Exhibition in Montréal. It was technically a World’s fair, but organizers thought that Expo 67 was easier to say and allowed the event to be thematic instead of commercial. This was in contrast to the decidedly commercial1964 New York World’s Fair that happened to be going on when the name was chosen.
The fair, I mean Expo, was on 900 acres of land created on islands in the St. Lawrence River in Montreal. These are now Parc Jean-Drapeau, a municipal park. The Expo opened on April 21, 1967 and saw just over 50 million visitors before it closed on October 27, 1967. But construction started nearly four years earlier on August 12, 1963.
Check out the “official” Expo 67 website for more information about the fair then you could ever image. It was very handy in identifying these pictures.
Totally not a fair.
“Fort Edmonton” was part of La Ronde, the amusement ride portion of the fair. It was meant to show early pioneer life in Canada.
Nearby “Fort Edmonton” was the Gyrotron, housed in this vaguely pyramidal building. The Gyrotron was: “Gyrotron is unique, a $3,000,000 ride of the future suggesting outer space and the unknown. It puts the passenger into “orbit,” dumps him into a hissing, spitting volcano to be swallowed by a huge monster living within in it. It’s the fantasy of another world.” — quoted from “Bill Bantey’s Expo 67” book, a publication of the Gazette Printing Company (Limited), Montreal, April, 1967.”
Sounds pretty awesome to me!
These days those kids would be too short to ride this ride.
No doubt this was not the only traditional folk dancing going on at the fair. I mean Expo.
Apparently there were a multitude of transportation options around the fair. The Minirail above is a small monorail that traveled the park and was divided into two lines, designated Yellow and Blue by the color of the “roof.”
A larger train circled the park, as we can (barely) see here. Also in front of that was one of the smaller trams, the same design soon to be used at the Disney Theme Parks.
In addition to these three, there was also a hovercraft transportation option. And a helicopter option!
You can see a water ski ramp in the lake in front of the “pirate” ship. Water shows full of water skiers and boats going over these ramps were popular at one time.
This water fountain appears to have been directly outside of the Switzerland Pavilion.
I have no idea what is up with the animals. It looks like they might have been used in a parade and then stored here?
This is the United States Pavilion, called “Creative America.” It was a 20 story bubble that contained multi-level exhibits meant to show off the technical experience in the US.
Among these technological advances was a 125 foot escalator that took visitors up a space exhibit.
Mariner 2 Spacecraft.
The Gemini Capsule. It’s possible that this capsule is the one won by a boy in Portland Oregon as part of a contest. If so, it now sits at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.
Moon lander.
And the more famous Apollo Capsule.
This is one of those events I wish I was old enough to have been able to go too.
Leave a Reply