Get ready for a blast from the past: Expo ’74, Spokane’s environmentally themed World’s Fair. Somebody just snickered. But once you get over the bellbottom shots and cheesy music, there’s something of merit with this footage, especially for young punks like us who weren’t there. Example: The “huge industrial eyesore” that was transformed into beautiful Riverfront Park. And there’s a tendency to diss Expo 74. Even the brilliant (but now sadly defunct) MetroSpokane stated its intention with a banner reading “because Expo ‘74 happened a long time ago” as a way of tearing down the past, looking forward. Yet there’s no denying it changed the way we look at the Spokane River and it’s possible to trace contemporary concerns back to this event. It was even called “Celebrating a Fresh, New Environment.” Last year, when discussing the Shoreline Master Program for the Spokane River with the City, Friends Of The Falls discovered the original design which reminded them of the “energy, optimism and foresight that drove the community in those days.” Proposed in the wake of Expo ’74, one page presciently read the following: “Every community has a heart. It may be a central business district, a civic center, a square, or even a building. The location and character of the heart is paramount as an expression of the character of the whole city. Spokane began on the river near Spokane Falls and Havermale Island. The heart of the City is still there, but cluttered and obscured. By removing this debris, the way is cleared for re-establishing the area in the public mind as the city’s heart. The heart becomes a focus of high aesthetic, social, and cultural significance rather than just some street intersection which is basic to the plan concept of welding together the City, its people, and its river heritage.” Again, that was thirty years ago. Awareness is high but it still feels like such visionary language is sorely absent today. We’re hoping the upcoming Down To Earth launch will provide fresh energy, optimism and foresight for environmental issues in Spokane.

---

---