50 years ago in Expo history: It was a British invasion at the fair’s Folklife Festival (well, eventually)

An iconic British double-decker bus was on display near the Expo ’74 Folklife Festival – but getting it there had proven to be a challenge.

It had come from Victoria, British Columbia, which meant officials had to find a ferry with enough overhead space for the bus.

Then they had to map a route that had overpasses high enough. The final challenge came right at the Folklife Festival entrance. The Folklife Festival sign, which spanned the entrance, was 3 inches too low.

In other Expo news, Bachman-Turner Overdrive played an Expo ’74 concert at the Spokane Coliseum. The Spokesman-Review said the Canadian rock band was powerful, but the heat and the acoustics were awful.

“There is probably no other place in the world as bad as the Coliseum to hold a rock concert on a hot night,” he said.

From 100 years ago: Emil Von Pein, 17, a Spokane messenger boy, said he had delivered many different things in his two years on the job, including live cats and dogs.

But he had his limits.

“One woman called up the other day and wanted a messenger boy to take care of her baby for two hours,” he said. “I wouldn’t go out on that job, believe me. No baby-tending for me. ”

Also on this day

(From onthisday.com)

1774: Ann Lee, founder of the Shaker Movement, arrives in New York.

1944: The deportation of 70,000 Jews from Lodz, Poland, to Auschwitz begins.